Personnel Updates

• 7-Eleven Inc. (58) named company veteran Jack Stout as its new Senior VP Merchandising, Marketing and Demand Chain. He replaces Jesus Delgado-Jenkins, who retired.

• Associated Wholesale Grocers Inc. (50) announced Scott Welman is now Exec VP and Chief Development Officer, and Stephanie Becker is now Senior VP, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, succeeding Mr. Welman.

• Albertsons LLC (108) has appointed Paul Gossett to succeed Doug Cygan as President of the Jewel-Osco Division.

• H-E-B (87) announced the appointment of Mike Georgoff as Chief Product Officer, H-E-B Digital.

• Kings Food Markets Inc. (43) announced Jim Moriarty has joined Kings Food Markets and Balducci’s Food Lover’s Market as CFO.

• The Kroger Co. (242) announced the retirement of Atlanta Division President Bruce Lucia.  Tim Brown has been promoted to the position. Scott Hays will take over as Cincinnati/Dayton Division President. The company has promoted Keith Dailey to the position of VP of Corporate Affairs. Valerie Jabbar has been promoted to Group VP Merchandising, Gil Phipps will be VP of Branding, Marketing and Our Brands, and Mike Murphy will be President of Ralphs.

• Plaid Pantries Inc. (12) announced it has named Jonathan Polonsky as President and CEO. He is succeeding Chris Girard who will remain with the company in the newly created position of Executive Chairman.

• Publix Super Markets Inc. (238) announced that Marcy Benton would be taking over the VP Human Resources role, and John Provenzano would now be the company’s VP Public Affairs.

• Sprouts Farmers Market (77) has promoted Dave McGlinchey to Chief Merchandising Officer, a newly created position.

• The Fresh Market Inc. (99) has named Oded Shein as its new CFO.

• Wakefern Food Corp. (79) announced Erik Keptner has been promoted to the role of Senior VP of Marketing.

Financial Focus

• Albertsons LLC and Rite Aid Corporation announced they have terminated their merger agreement.

Mergers and Acquisitions

• Getty Realty Corp. has closed an acquisition with a U.S. subsidiary of Applegreen PLC. The properties include 33 convenience stores, and five stand-alone Burger King quick-service restaurants within the Columbia, SC market.

• Parkland Fuel Corporation has entered into an agreement to acquire Rhinehart Oil, with operations in Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico.

• PetroGas of South Carolina has acquired seven convenience stores from Carolina Convenience Corporation, as well as its wholesale fuels distribution business in South Carolina. The company will continue to operate with one store location.

• Riiser Fuels LLC has acquired the 11 locations of Mad Max Convenience Stores.

• SUPERVALU Inc. is being acquired by grocery wholesaler United Natural Foods Inc. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2018.

Industry Insight

• Sprouts Farmers Markets has renewed its distribution agreement with KeHE Distributors LLC.

Real Estate

• Aldi Inc. is continuing its expansion across New Jersey. The company has opened a new store in Voorhees, and plans to open more than five additional stores in the state before the end of 2018.

• Brookshire Grocery Co. announced it has opened 11 Super 1 Foods locations in Louisiana.

• The Fresh Market Inc. announced it plans to close 15 underperforming stores in Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina New Hampshire, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin.

• H-E-B is opening its first ecommerce fulfillment center in the Houston, TX area.

• The Kroger Co. announced it will open its first location in Florida. A Lucky’s Market is expected to open in Delray Beach in 2019.

• Lands’ End Inc. has opened a new store at the Staten Island Mall in New York.

• Lou Perrine’s Gas & Groceries announced it is adding a second c-store and gas station in Kenosha, WI.

• Lucky’s Market LLC has signed leases for several new store locations in Florida, The stores in Venice, West Boca, Pensacola and Ormond Beach are set to open within the next 18 to 24 months. Plans also include locations in Oakleaf, Bonita Springs, Cape Coral, Naples, Fort Myers, Port Charlotte, Port St. Lucie, Boca Raton, Dania Beach, Cooper City, Hunters Creek, Orlando, Winter Park, Vineland, Colonial Landing and Lake Mary.

• RaceTrac Petroleum Inc. announced it intends to open 30 or more stores in the Nashville, TN market in the next five years.

Technology News

• Hy-Vee Inc. has announced plans to implement next-generation store systems from GK Software, including OmniPOS for omnichannel POS, Mobile Customer Assistant (MCA) for mobile app self-scanning, and the TransAction+ payment solution.

• The Kroger Co. has entered into a new partnership with Nuro to pilot an on-road, fully autonomous grocery delivery experience. Consumers will place same-day delivery orders using Kroger’s ClickList ordering system, as well as Nuro’s app. The orders will be delivered by Nuro’s fleet of autonomous vehicles.

Just because we don’t mention it here doesn’t mean it didn’t happen – or we didn’t capture it. In the past four weeks, we’ve updated more than 187 companies in the Supermarket, Grocery, & Convenience Stores PLUS Database, with many of those companies’ records updated at multiple points.