Personnel Updates

• Associated Grocers Inc. (24) named Manard Lagasse Jr. as President and CEO of the company. He succeeds Emile Breaux, who resigned from the position.

• GPM Investments LLC (92) said Michael Bloom will join the company in the newly created role of Exec VP and Chief Merchandising and Marketing Officer.

• The Kroger Co. (273) announced Joe Kelley has been promoted to President of the Houston division. He succeeds Marlene Stewart, who is retiring.

• Marathon Petroleum Corp. (53) said that Tony Kenney, President of Speedway LLC, will retire later this year. He will become Exec VP supporting the Speedway transition until his retirement.

• Niemann Foods Inc. (47) announced Jodie Felter, currently serving as Corporate Secretary, has been promoted to VP of Human Resources.

• SpartanNash Company (115) has hired Walt Lentz as its Exec VP and President, Food Distribution.

• Sprouts Farmers Markets (102) said that Jack L. Sinclair has been appointed the company’s CEO. The company also announced that Brad Lukow, interim co-CEO and CFO, has resigned.

• The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company LLC (36) announced its President, Mark McGowan, will leave the company. He will remain with the retailer through the end of the year. At that time Gordon Reid, the President of Giant Food, will become President of Stop & Shop. Ira Kress, the Senior VP of Operations at Giant Food, has been appointed its Interim President.

Financial Focus

• TravelCenters of America LLC announced it will convert from an LLC to a corporation. The company expects to complete the conversion before the end of 2019.

Mergers and Acquisitions

• Little Giant Farmer’s Market has been acquired by Mitchell Grocery Corp.

• Smart & Final Stores LLC completed a $1.12 billion deal to be acquired by private equity firm Apollo Global Management LLC.

Real Estate

• Sprouts Farmers Markets recently opened three new stores including its first unit in New Jersey. The new locations are in Mesa, AZ, San Jose, CA, and Marlton, NJ.

• Tops Markets LLC announced it plans to remodel 10 to 15 stores annually.

Technology News

• Albertsons LLC has implemented self-checkout systems (System 6 from Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions) in its Jewel, Acme, Shaw’s, Safeway, Carrs, Tom Thumb, Randalls, and Vons stores. The company plans to deploy the Toshiba System 7 self-checkout solution later this year. Albertsons is also piloting Toshiba mobile POS and solutions to further reduce the time that customers spend at checkout.

• The Kroger Co. has expanded its partnership with consumer health engagement company Higi to put its self-service smart health stations in Roundy’s Supermarkets in Illinois and Wisconsin, including Pick ‘n Save, Mariano’s, Copps and Metro Market banners. The Higi stations offer free health screenings and interactive educational content.

• Meijer Inc. has expanded its Shop & Scan service to stores in the Indianapolis area, after successful rollouts in other regions. Customers download the Meijer app, log into their mPerks account, scan and bag items as they shop and then scan the bar code at the kiosk to pay before leaving.

• Publix Super Markets Inc. announced customers will soon be able to pay by credit, debit or flexible spending account with the company’s mobile app. The current mobile payment option, on Apple devices, is being rolled out gradually in its stores, with plans to expand to Android.

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