Supermarket, Grocery, & C-Store

Free Trial• Meijer Inc. will open its first two Meijer Grocery stores in southeast Michigan on January 26. The new concept locations will range from 75,000 sq. ft. to 90,000 sq. ft.

• Parkland USA announced its President Doug Haugh is stepping down from the company.

• Wawa Inc. has announced plans to open its first store locations in the states of Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio, starting in 2025.

• Wegmans Food Markets Inc. reported it plans to open a new 85,000 sq. ft. store in Reston, VA, on February 1. Wegmans’ first location in Manhattan will be 82,000 sq. ft. and is slated to open in the second half of 2023.

 

Retail

• Birkenstock USA, LP recently opened its fourth company-owned store in the U.S. in Larkspur, CA.

• BlueLinx Holdings Corporation has named Dionne Vernon as VP of Talent Management and Gui Nebel as VP of Finance and Treasury.

• Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. announced that Ray Sliva will join the company as Exec VP Store Operations, effective January 3.

• Do it Best Corp. named Joe Hutt as Merchandise Manager for Building Hardware, and has promoted Dan Sloat to IT Development Manager.

• Dollar General Corp. announced Tim Jagneaux has joined the company as VP of Construction. Ariel dela Cruz has been named as Divisional VP of Store Operations. Megan Kokoska joined the retailer as VP of Digital Engagement.

• Dollar General Corp. plans to open 1,050 new stores, and to complete 2,000 remodels and 120 store relocations in fiscal year 2023.  It also plans to open new stores in Mexico, with a goal of operating up to 35 stores there by the end of fiscal 2023.

• Foot Locker Inc. announced Andrew Page, CFO, is leaving the company at the end of the fiscal year. The retailer also has promoted Rosalind Reeves to Chief Human Resources Officer.

• Ogden & Adams Inc. announced it will acquire the assets of Delhi Lumber.

• Plato’s Closet recently opened its 500th store location.

• VF Corporation announced Steve Rendle has stepped down as President, CEO and Chairman. Benno Dorer has been appointed Interim CEO.

 

Restaurant

• Bertucci’s has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with challenges related to inflation and the pandemic have been cited as the reason for the filing. The company also filed for bankruptcy in April 2018.

California’s FAST Act has been put on hold after The Small Restaurant Coalition received more than a million signatures. The legislation will now be put to a referendum vote in Nov. 2024.

• Fazoli’s will be developing a new location in Denton, TX and two new locations in Shreveport, LA that should be open by the end of 2023.

• McDonald’s franchisee Santonastasso Enterprises LLC has been accused of working 101 minor-aged employees beyond permissible hours by the U.S. Department of Labor.

• Starbucks has launched the beta version of their metaverse, Starbucks Odyssey. The experience allows customers to buy and trade NFTs that earn loyalty points that can then be redeemed for in-store rewards.

• Sweetgreen announced that COO Chris Carr will step down on March 17th. Senior VP of operations Stephanie Traut will oversee the department effective Jan. 1st while Carr serves in an advisory role.

• Swig is opening a new location in Fort Worth, TX.

• Taco John’s is planning to open a new location in Chicago, IL.

• Uber Eats has agreed to pay a $10 million legal settlement to the city of Chicago for listing restaurants on their service without consent.