Personnel Updates

• Batteries Plus Bulbs (81) has appointed Scott Williams as the company’s new CEO.

• Target Corporation (303) announced that CFO Cathy Smith will be retiring. She will continue in her role until her successor is named and then move to an advisory role until May 2020. The company also announced Rick Gomez has been named Chief Marketing and Digital Officer, Stephanie Lundquist has been named President of Food and Beverage, Melissa Kremer has been promoted to Chief Human Resources Officer, and Katie Boylan has been named Chief Communications Officer.

Financial Focus

• ShopKo Stores Operating Co. LLC has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company announced it plans to sell its pharmacy business, close 38 stores and relocate more than 20 Optical centers to freestanding locations.

Mergers and Acquisitions

• GameStop Holdings Corp. announced it has closed the sale of its 1,284 AT&T Wireless stores to Prime Communications.

Industry Insight

• Dollar General Corp. announced it will sell more food options like fresh produce, as the company plans to expand in food deserts in rural and metro areas. The company expects to add produce to about 200 remodeled stores. Currently, 425 locations carry produce.

• Hy-Vee announced that it has acquired the business of 22 ShopKo Stores Operating Co. LLC’s pharmacies in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

• Walmart Stores Inc. is partnering with four third-party delivery providers, Point Pickup, Skipcart, AxleHire and Roadie, to help expand online grocery delivery in more areas.

Real Estate

• Dollar General Corp. plans to open 975 new stores, remodel 1,000 stores and relocate 100 stores in 2019.

• Ocean State Jobbers announced an expansion that includes gaining seven former Toys “R” Us locations including three in Pennsylvania, a new market for the company, and three in New England.

• Ollie’s Bargain Outlet has bought 12 former Toys “R” Us sites and is leasing another six, with plans to enter states like Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma.

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 107 companies in the Discount, Dollar, & Specialty Stores PLUS Database, with many of those companies’ records updated at multiple points.