Supermarket, Grocery, C-Store

• Abraham & Sons Inc. announced it has promoted George Bennett to President. In other company news, Jim Leonard, COO, has recently retired.

• Buc-ee’s Ltd. reported it plans to open a new 73,400 sq. ft. location in DeForest, WI.

• Green Zebra Grocery, Inc. announced it will go out of business and close all its stores on March 31.

• Hannaford Bros. Co. has acquired independent grocer Tradewinds Marketplace in Blue Hill, ME.

• Sprouts Farmers Markets reported it plans to open at least 30 new stores in 2023. The grocer will also be closing 11 underperforming stores by the end of the second quarter.

Retail

• Amazon.com Inc. announced it will close 8 Amazon Go convenience stores on April 1, two in Seattle, two in New York City, and four in San Francisco.

• Blue Ridge Lumber Co. Inc. has acquired Gumble Brothers Inc.

• Claire’s Holdings LLC recently opened a new 1,200 sq. ft. store in Paris, France.

• Do it Best Corp. announced the promotion of Adam Brown to Territory Sales Manager. The company also announced Audrey Clark was hired as Communications Project Manager, and James Fisher was hired as Continuous Improvement Leader.

• Express Inc. announced that Matthew Moellering will retire as President and COO, effective May 5, 2023.

• Nordstrom Inc. reported it expects to finish its store closures in Canada by late June. The retailer currently has six Nordstrom stores and seven Nordstrom Rack stores in the country.

• Target Corporation will allow customers to make drive-up product returns at its stores this spring, with plans to offer the service at all of its stores by the end this summer.

Restaurant

• Burger King franchisee, Meridian Restaurant Unlimited LLC, has declared federal bankruptcy protection due to the high cost of food and labor and reduced traffic and sales.

• FAT Brands founder and CEO Andy Wiederhorn will be stepping down on May 5th. He will transition into an advisory role within the company and his replacement will be named before then.

• Just Salad has named Jared Garber as CFO. Previous CFO Stefan Boyd departed the company earlier this month.

• McDonald’s has rebranded the crispy chicken sandwich to the McCrispy. The revamped sandwich lineup is part of the company’s attempt to gain more ground in the chicken category.

• Mountain Mike’s Pizza has opened a new location in Fortuna, CA.

• Pizza Guys has opened a new location in Fontana, CA.

• Pizza Hut is selling limited-edition mini basketballs for NCAA March Madness. The promotion was last seen in the 1990’s and follows the revival of another 1990’s item, the Big New Yorker.

• Taco John’s has opened a new location in Boston, MA.

• The Habit Burger Grill has hired Jack Hinchliffe as Global Chief Marketing Officer.

• Twin Peaks has opened a new location in Greenwood, IN.

• US Foods is testing weekend deliveries in select markets to give employees and customers greater scheduling flexibility.