Supermarket, Grocery, & C-Store
• Festival Foods has announced the retirement of Mike Mesich, Senior VP of Operations. The grocer promoted Frank Abnet to Senior VP of Store Operations, Randy Munns to COO, Sean Sanders to VP of Center Store and Joe Zink to VP of Center Store Merchandising.
• GPM Investments LLC plans to remodel approximately 360 stores over the next three to five years.
• Murphy USA Inc. recently announced the grand opening of its 1,500th store.
• Trader Joe’s Co. plans to open its first store in Upper Manhattan, in the New York City neighborhood of Harlem, in 2023.
• US LBM Holdings, LLC announced that it will acquire Jennings Builders Supply & Hardware, a building products dealer with four locations in western North Carolina. The transaction is planned to close by the end of the year. The company has also acquired Gilcrest/Jewett Lumber Company, the building products dealer and manufacturer with five locations in Iowa.
Retail
• Alexander Lumber Co. reported that it has extended Bill Cummings’ tenure as CEO through 2021.
• Amazon.com Inc. is opening its first-ever South Dakota supply chain facility in Sioux Falls. The new 640,000 sq. ft. fulfillment center is anticipated to launch in 2022. In addition, Amazon plans to open a one-million-square-foot fulfillment center in North Little Rock, AK, and supply chain hubs in Pflugerville and Waco, TX, in 2021. Amazon plans to open its first fulfillment center in the state of Louisiana in 2021.
• Bath & Body Works announced Julie Rosen was named President, and Deon Riley was named Chief Human Resources Officer. Chris Cramer has been promoted to COO. Danielle Demko has been promoted to Exec VP and General Manager of Direct. George Arenschield has been promoted to Exec VP, Merchandise Planning and Allocation. Ron Ford has been named Exec VP and Head of Stores and Sales.
• Beacon Roofing Supply Inc. announced that it is selling its interior products business to affiliates of American Securities LLC.
• Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. named Patty Wu as Senior VP and General Manager for Buybuy Baby.
• Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. is closing 43 Bed Bath & Beyond stores by the end of February as part of its previously announced plans to close about 200 locations by 2022. The retailer plans to open 50 new Buybuy Baby stores in the next three years.
• BlueLinx Holdings Corporation announced that it has promoted Matt Lyle to VP Central Region and George Zarick to VP East Region.
• CVS Health has named Michelle Peluso as its first Chief Customer Officer.
• Filson Company has named Paolo Corinaldesi as its new CEO.
• Godiva Chocolatier Inc. has promoted Nurtac Ziyal Afridi to CEO.
• Guitar Center Inc. announced its restructuring plan has been approved by a bankruptcy court and it expects to emerge from Chapter 11 by Dec. 31.
• JCPenney Company, Inc. announced it will close another 15 stores by the end of March.
• L Brands, Inc. will open Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works stores in Israel, starting in the second half of 2021.
• L & W Supply has acquired the business of Merrimack Building Supply, a building materials distributor with locations in southern New England.
• Macy’s Inc. announced that Nata Dvir has been named Chief Merchandising Officer effective February 1, 2021.
• Macy’s Inc. announced it will close about 45 stores by mid-year, including its 45-year-old flagship in Chicago, IL.
• Nordstrom Inc. announced that it has named Alexis DePree as Exec VP and Chief Supply Chain Officer.
• Pet Supplies ‘Plus’ Inc. will open 100 new stores in 2021, including rebranding 40 stores throughout IN, KY, MD, NJ, OH, PA, and VA it acquired from Pet Valu Canada Inc.
• Rent-A-Center Inc. is acquiring online lease-to-own provider Acima Holdings LLC. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2021.
• Tuesday Morning Corp. has exited Chapter 11, leaving it with 490 stores in 40 states.
• US LBM Holdings, LLC has acquired Tri-County Building Supplies Incorporated, a building materials distributor in southern New Jersey.
• Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. has entered a deal to sell the majority of its Alliance Healthcare Businesses to AmerisourceBergen Corp.
Restaurant
• Another Broken Egg Café will be opening a new location on Jan. 11th in Orlando, FL.
• Burger King has redesigned their logo that will include new colors and new uniforms. This is the first time the brand has changed the logo since 1990.
• Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop Inc. has purchased Wing Zone Franchise Corp. Wing Zone will continue operations as normal.
• DQ Grill & Chill has opened a new location Wade, NC.
• Farmer Boys Food Inc. has plans to open two new restaurants in Arizona by the end of 2021 or beginning of 2022. The locations will open in Phoenix and Tempe.
• Huddle House plans to open a new location in Canton, TX by the end of the year.
• Inspire Brands has named Michael Haley as President and Director of International development and growth.
• KFC will launch their new chicken sandwich by the end of February and the sandwich is listed as the “KFC Chicken Sandwich”.
• K&N Management has sold their Mighty Fine Burgers Fries & Shakes restaurant chain to Tc4 & Co. Hospitality.
• McDonald’s Corporation will launch three new chicken sandwiches on February 24th. The new offerings were created to more directly compete with competitors Popeyes and Chick-fil-A.
• Pizza Guys is opening a new location in Corona, CA.
• RAVE Restaurant Group Inc. has received a delisting warning from NASDAQ as their stock dipped below $1 per share. This is their second warning after receiving one in July of last year.
• Shipley Do-Nuts has been purchased by Peak Rock Capital. Shipley will continue operation as normal but CEO Lawrence Shipley III is retiring from the company.
• Simply Southern Restaurant Group LLC will open a new Chicken Salad Chick location in O’Fallon, IL.
• Starbucks Corporation has announced that current CFO Patrick Grismer will be retiring on February 1st and he will be replaced by Rachel Ruggeri.
• Twin Peaks Restaurant has opened a new restaurant in Tempe, AZ.
• Walk-On’s Enterprises has opened a new location in Gonzales, LA.
• Zaxby’s has opened a new location in McComb, MS.
