Personnel Updates

• Albertsons LLC (110) has named current President and COO Jim Donald as its new President and CEO. Current CEO Robert Miller will continue as Chairman.

• C & S Wholesale Grocers Inc. (39) has appointed Joe Cavaliere as its Chief Commercial Officer.

• FreshDirect Inc. (38) announced its co-founder Jason Ackerman has resigned as Chairman and CEO. The company has named co-founder David McInerney as the new CEO.

• The Parker Companies (17) has hired Thomas Mathewes as the company’s new Real Estate Project Manager in the Charleston, SC area.

• SpartanNash Company (75) has named Tom Swanson as Senior VP and General Manager of Corporate Retail, succeeding Ted Adornato, who is retiring on Oct. 6.

• United Fresh Produce Association (26) announced Parker Linn is now Manager, Industry Relations, and Andrew Marshall is now Director, Foodservice Programs and Foundation Partnerships. Erin Hutchinson was hired as Director, Supply Chain Relations. Mary Alameda is the new Manager, Industry Relations for the wholesaler-distributor community and Spencer Crawford is Manager, Industry Relations for the retail community. Natalia Gamarra is Manager International Member Services.

Financial Focus

• Darrenkamps Inc. is closing down after 86 years in business and plans to close all of its stores by early November.  The family-owned supermarket retailer has agreed to sell one of its four locations, where it also has its corporate headquarters, to Giant Food Stores LLC.

Mergers and Acquisitions

• Dash In Food Stores Inc. has acquired Tevis Oil Inc. including five company-operated Jiffy Mart locations.

• EG Group has acquired TravelCenters of America LLC’s Minit Mart convenience-store business. The agreement includes 225 stand-alone convenience stores. The companies expect the sale to be completed in fourth-quarter 2018.

• Enmarket Stations Inc. has purchased Joker Joe’s Truck Stop in Hardeeville, SC.

• Parkland Fuel Corporation announced the pending acquisition of Missouri Valley Petroleum Inc., a distributor and retailer with 6 stores in North Dakota.

• Riiser Fuels LLC continues to grow in Wisconsin with the acquisition of the six locations of Marshall’s Convenience Stores Inc.

Industry Insight

• H-E-B announced plans to build a two-story, 81,000 sq. ft. technology facility and innovation lab for its digital team and on‑demand delivery service in East Austin, TX.

• Stater Bros. Holdings Inc. announced plans to close all of its 22 SuperRx Pharmacies and sell its prescription records and inventory to CVS Health.

Real Estate

• Green Zebra Grocery, Inc. has revealed plans for a West Coast expansion over the next five years. The retailer plans on opening 24 locations stretching from San Diego to Seattle by 2023.

• H-E-B announced it plans to close a struggling 28,000 sq. ft. location in Houston, TX, and turn the space into an e-commerce warehouse that will support stores offering pickup or home delivery.

• Lidl US, LLC is opening two new Washington, DC area stores this month, including its first in Maryland. The stores are in Bowie, MD, and Dumfries, VA.

• Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage, Inc. plans to close its store in Tulsa, OK.

• Publix Super Markets Inc. has revealed plans for a new warehouse and distribution center near Greensboro, NC. The company expects to begin construction in early 2020, and the facilities to open in 2022.

• Publix Super Markets Inc. has announced plans to open a new GreenWise Market in Atlanta, GA. The new 25,000 sq. ft. store will open in Sandy Springs Marketplace.

• Sprouts Farmers Markets recently opened its first Pennsylvania store. The 32,000 sq. ft. supermarket is in Philadelphia.

• Tops Markets LLC announced that it would close 10 underperforming stores by the end of November. The stores are located in Syracuse, Rochester, Fairport, Lyons, Geneva, Fulton, Elmira and Saranac Lake, NY.

Technology News

• Ricker Oil Co. Inc. has entered into a partnership with Skip, a provider of mobile self-checkout applications that will enable customers to use their smart device to pay for merchandise while at the gas pump or in-store. The company plans to have the technology available throughout its stores by the end of September.

Green Initiatives

• Giant Food Stores LLC announced its store in Cleona, PA, has become the first in the Ahold Delhaize chain to reach zero-waste status. As defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, zero waste means that 90 percent or more of a store’s total waste is being diverted from a landfill or incineration.

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 193 companies in the Supermarket, Grocery, & Convenience Stores PLUS Database, with many of those companies’ records updated at multiple points.