Supermarket, Grocery, & C-Store
• Albertsons LLC is collaborating with Google to develop a wide range of omnichannel customer-friendly services, including hyper-local shoppable maps and predictive grocery list building.
• Amazon.com Inc. is in talks to open an Amazon Fresh grocery store in St. Louis, MO.
• H-E-B is expanding in Texas. The grocer plans to open two stores in Frisco and Plano, TX, in the fall of 2022.
• Marathon Petroleum Corp.‘s sale of its Speedway LLC retail convenience-store network to 7-Eleven Inc. will now close in the second quarter of 2021.
• VERC Enterprises Inc. has sold its 32 convenience stores in Massachusetts and New Hampshire to multiple buyers in the c-store industry.
• Wawa Inc. announced it plans to open 61 new stores in 2021. The retailer plans to hire 5,000 new associates during the next three months.
Retail
• Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. has named Jill Pavlovich as Senior VP of Digital Commerce, and Jake Griffith as VP of Product Management.
• Bridgestone Retail Operations LLC announced plans to open 58 locations across the U.S. this year, with 18 on track to open before the end of April.
• Chico’s FAS Inc. announced it has named Jay Topper as its new Chief Digital Officer.
• Dollar General Corp. has promoted Nick Snow to VP, Decision Science and Analytics. Angela Martin has been promoted to VP, Customer Insights and Branding. Jeff Vaughan has been named VP, Channel Innovation. Denine Torr has been promoted to VP, Corporate Social Responsibility/Philanthropy. Melissa Heisse has been promoted to VP of Lease Administration. Shareeka Meadows has been promoted to VP, DMM. Pooh Vichidvongsa has been promoted to VP, DMM.
• Floor & Decor Outlets of America announced it has opened its first location in Connecticut, a 75,000 sq. ft. store in Danbury.
• Foot Locker Inc. has appointed Andrew E. Page as Exec VP and CFO, effective April 12. He will succeed Lauren B. Peters, who previously announced her retirement.
• GameStop Holdings Corp. has appointed Elliott Wilke to the role of Chief Growth Officer. Andrea Wolfe was named VP of Brand Development. Tom Petersen was named VP of Merchandising.
• Gap Inc. has entered into an agreement to sell Janie and Jack, which operates more than 115 stores in the U.S.
• HOM Furniture plans to open a new 98,000 sq. ft. location in Oakdale, MN, in early 2022.
• Hudson Group recently opened six new stores at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas.
• Ikea North America announced it has named Linus Karlsson as Chief Creative Officer, a newly formed position.
• JCPenney Co. Inc. said it will close 18 stores on May 16, as part of its planned closures.
• L & W Supply reported that it has acquired the assets of Starr’s Building Supply, Inc. located in Sacramento, CA.
• National Lumber Co. announced that Kimberly Salvo-Conlon has joined the company as Director of Commercial Millwork, Doors and Hardware.
• Nike Inc. announced that its products will no longer be stocked in Urban Outfitters Inc., Designer Brands Inc., Shoe Show Inc., Dunham’s Athleisure Corp., Olympia Sports, Big 5 Sporting Goods Corp. and Macy’s Inc.
• PVH Corp. has appointed Alegra O’Hare to serve as the Chief Marketing Officer of Tommy Hilfiger LLC.
• Restoration Hardware Holdings Inc. plans to open four new stores in 2021, and is set to begin its international expansion in 2022.
• Shoe Carnival Inc. is planning to remodel approximately two-thirds of its locations in the next three to five years.
• Shoe Carnival Inc. announced the promotion of Carl Scibetta to Senior Exec VP and Chief Merchandising Officer. Marc Chilton was named as Exec VP and Chief Retail Operations Officer, succeeding Tim Baker. The retailer also announced Patrick Edwards was promoted to VP, Chief Accounting Officer, and Corporate Controller.
• Target Corporation will close two store locations in the San Francisco, CA, area in June.
Restaurant
• Chick-fil-A Inc. announced that royalties from the brand’s bottled sauce retail sales helped fund nearly 400 additional scholarships in 2020.
• Crave Hot Dogs & Barbecue has opened a new location in Baton Rouge, LA.
• Dog Haus International LLC has opened a new location in Barboursville, WV.
• Johnny Rockets is expanding into Brazil and Chile.
• McDonald’s Corporation has hired Desiree Ralls-Morrison as General Counsel and corporate secretary.
• Mountain Mike’s Pizza has opened a new location Rancho Santa Margarita, CA.
• Muscle Maker Inc. has purchased prepared-meal service Superfit. Muscle Maker also purchased another subscription based meal service last year called Happy Meal Prep.
• Pizza Hut announced that George Felix has stepped down as Chief Marketing Officer and that Lynne Broad has been hired as CFO.
• Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Inc. has hired Darla Morse as Chief Information Officer and Executive VP.
• Shake Shack President and CFO Tara Comonte has resigned. The company is currently searching for a replacement.
• Slim Chickens has opened a new location in Memphis, TN.
• Starbucks Coffee has partnered with digital wallet platform Bakkt to allow consumers to load the value of bitcoin assets onto Starbucks cards. The company still does not allow direct bitcoin payments.
• Teriyaki Madness LLC has opened a new location in Katy, TX.
