Supermarket, Grocery, & C-Store
• Casey’s General Stores Inc. has acquired 26 Minit Mart stores in the Kansas City, MO, market from EG America LLC.
• H-E-B has opened its sixth e-commerce fulfillment center. The 55,000 sq. ft. facility is located in Plano, TX.
• National Grocers Association announced Anita Nunez Cepollaro has been appointed as VP of Business Development.
• Northeast Grocery, Inc. announced it is expanding their partnership with Instacart.
• Trader Joe’s Co. is opening a 1 million-sq.-ft. distribution center in Palmdale, CA. Construction is set to start in December, and to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2024.
• Wakefern Food Corp. is teaming up with Instacart at its supermarkets in New Jersey and New York.
Retail
• Academy Sports & Outdoors has promoted Matt McCabe to Exec VP and Chief Merchandising Officer. He will succeed Steve Lawrence, who recently took on the role of CEO.
• Ace Hardware Corp. is building a new distribution center in Kansas City, MO. The new 1.5 million sq. ft. facility is projected to open in 2025.
• Amazon.com Inc. has closed its Amazon Go store on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Marion Street in downtown Seattle, WA. The retailer also recently closed two Amazon Go stores in New York City, NY, and four in San Francisco, CA.
• AutoZone Inc. reported that Bill Rhodes will retire from his positions as President and CEO in January 2024, and will become Executive Chairman. He will be succeeded by Philip B. Daniele, currently Exec VP Merchandising, Marketing and Supply Chain.
• BlueLinx Holdings Corporation announced that Tricia Kinney has been appointed as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary.
• Claire’s Holdings LLC has appointed Claudia Lima-Guinehut as Exec VP and Chief Merchandising Officer.
• Jeld-Wen Holding Inc. has appointed Wendy Livingston as Exec VP and Chief Human Resources Officer. She replaces Tim Craven, who is leaving the company in July.
• Kohl’s Corporation is opening smaller Sephora shops in its smaller locations. By fall 2023, Sephora shops that are 750 sq. ft. will be operating at 50 Kohl’s locations which average 35,000 sq. ft.
• Recreational Equipment Inc. is opening its second Re/Supply store, scheduled to debut late this summer in Clackamas, OR.
• RONA Inc. announced that it will begin converting its Lowe’s Canada stores to the RONA+ banner.
• Under Armour Inc. reported Jim Dausch has been named Exec VP, Chief Consumer Officer. Danny Miles has been promoted to Exec VP, and CTO. Colin Browne, COO, and Lisa Collier, Chief Product Officer, will leave the company.
• Victoria’s Secret & Co. announced that Greg Unis will assume the role of Brand President, Victoria’s Secret & PINK. In addition, Anne Stephenson has been appointed as its new Chief Merchandising Officer.
Restaurant
• Jeremiah’s Italian Ice has appointed Michael Keller as CEO and President. Additionally, Erin Buono has been named Director of Research and Development, Adam Hing has been named Director of Supply Chain, and Julianna Voyles was named Senior Director of Franchise Operations.
• McDonald’s is facing pressure from a shareholder coalition to adopt a zero-tolerance policy in their global brand standards for any labor violations from franchisees. The coalition is also seeking a third-party human rights assessment of the brand after it was discovered that some franchisees employed illegal child labor.
• Noodles & Company has hired Mike Hynes as CFO.
• Papa Johns has appointed Ravi Thanawala as CFO.
• Smokey Bones has promoted Hal Lawlor to President and COO.
• Taco Bell has promoted Sean Tresvant to CEO. Tresvant, the current Global Chief Brand and Strategy Officer, will assume the role effective January, 1 2024. Current CEO Mark King will be retiring at the end of the year.
• Velvet Taco has hired Brooke Perry as VP of Marketing.
