DATATRAC
Personnel Updates
• Albertsons announced that Dan Valenzuela, previously head of the company’s Seattle division, has been named President of its Safeway Eastern Division, effective immediately succeeding Steve Burnham.
• Murphy USA Inc. hired Rob Chumley as Senior VP of Marketing.
• SpartanNash named Tammy Hurley VP of Finance as its new Chief Accounting Officer. Also, Dave Staples has been appointed President of the company. Staples will continue his role as COO and continue to report directly to CEO and chairman Dennis Eidson, who previously also held the role of president.
• Weis Markets promoted Jeanette Rogers to VP and Corporate Controller.
• Whole Foods hired three new global vice presidents: Sonya Gafsi Oblisk, Global Vice President of Marketing; Martin Tracey, Vice President of Team Member Services; and Brooke Buchanan, Global Vice President of Communications.
Industry Insight
• Cash & Carry has partnered with Instacart with hopes of one-hour delivery for food orders.
• Farm Stores, a drive-through convenience store chain with 70 locations in Florida, plans to open 100 locations in New Jersey over the next ten years, beginning with locations in Union and Somerset counties.
• Kroger’s three Baker’s stores in Omaha, NE will offer online grocery ordering via Kroger’s ClickList, which allows shoppers to place orders online and pick them up in a designated lane outside the store.
• Market District Express, a smaller version of Giant Eagle’s Market District banner, has opened in Bexley, Ohio.
• Pilot is adding Shell gasoline at 29 Knoxville, TN-area convenience stores.
• Safeway and Albertsons stores in the Denver-area are now offering home delivery of groceries, joining other area grocers offering the service, including King Soopers, Wal-Mart and Instacart.
• Walmart added a grocery pickup service through the company’s mobile application at its stores in Hialeah and Miami Gardens, FL.
Real Estate
• Lidl’s first store in the US is planned in Virginia Beach, VA as the German grocer moves ahead with plans to open its first stores by 2018, company spokesman Will Harwood said.
• Fiesta Mart reopened a renovated Houston-area store, an event company officials signaled as the beginning of a long-term repositioning.
• Publix will open a new store in Wake Forest, NC.
• Tops Friendly Markets is opening six stores that it recently acquired from Stop & Shop and Hannaford Supermarket
• Weis Markets will reopen the first five of its 38 recently acquired Food Lion stores under the Weis Markets banner as part of a plan to re-banner all of the locations by the end of October.
Mergers & Acquisitions
• Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. will acquire CST Brands Inc. for $4.4 billion including debt.
• Compañía de Petróleos de Chile S.A. (COPEC) has entered into a definitive agreement with Delek U.S. Holdings Inc. to acquire Mapco Express Inc. for $535 million.
• Cracker Barrel is exiting the convenience store scene with the sale of its 53 sites to Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. – owned Circle K Stores Inc.
