Supermarket, Grocery, & C-Store

• Aldi Inc. plans to open a new store in Little Rock, AR.

• Brookshire Grocery Co. announced Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will acquire its 120 pharmacies in Arkansas Louisiana, and Texas. The vast majority of these locations are being converted to Walgreens pharmacies that will operate inside Brookshire Grocery’s stores.

• The Food Industry Association has named Kara Adams and Rebecca Daniels as Directors of Education.

• H-E-B has recently opened a new 107,000 sq. ft. store in Austin, TX. The retailer is set to open a new 127,000 sq. ft. store in Pflugerville, TX, in fall 2024.

• Island Pacific Supermarket announced the appointment of Christine Peebles as its new Chief Marketing Officer.

• Lidl US, LLC will reportedly open a new store in Lorton, VA, on July 26.

• RaceTrac Petroleum Inc. has reported it will acquire Gulf Oil. The transaction includes approximately 1,200 Gulf branded locations across the United States and Puerto Rico.

Retail

• Academy Sports & Outdoors recently opened a new 60,000 sq. ft. store location in Peoria, IL.

• BlueLinx Holdings Corporation announced that Andrew Wamser will join the company as Senior VP and CFO. He will replace Kelly Janzen, who is leaving the company.

• Brilliant Earth, LLC recently opened a new showroom in Chicago, IL. The retailer plans to open new locations in CA, FL, NJ, and VA, this summer as well.

• Designer Brands Inc. has appointed Laura Denk as President of DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse and Exec VP of Designer Brands.

• Dollarama Group L.P. announced that J.P. Towner, CFO, will step down from his position in the coming months to pursue another career opportunity.

• Kit and Ace announced David Lui as its new CEO. George Tsogas will assume the role of COO.

• LL Flooring Holdings, Inc. announced Robert L. Madore has been appointed as Exec VP and CFO, replacing Interim CFO Terry Blanchard. Andrew W. Wadhams has been named as Senior VP, Retail and Commercial Sales, and Laura Massaro has been named as Senior VP and Chief Marketing Officer.

• Sprouts Farmers Markets plans to open 10 new stores by the end of this summer. The retailer plans to open 6 new locations FL, and one each in AZ, CA, CO, and NJ.

• Target Corporation has promoted Lisa Roath to the position of Exec VP and Chief Marketing Officer.

• Walmart Canada reported it is launching a new subscription program called Delivery Pass, which offers free next-day delivery for a monthly or annual fee.

Restaurant

• Chipotle will be using a new robot prototype, called Autocado, to prepare avocados before employes mash them. Chipotle hopes this new robot will cut down on preparation time and increase efficiency.

• Crave Hot Dogs & BBQ have opened a new location in Tampa, FL.

• Craveworthy Brands has appointed Kim DeCarolis as Senior VP of Strategic Growth.

• Domino’s is now partnering with Uber Eats and Postmates for delivery. This is a reversal of the company’s longstanding policy to only use first-party delivery. It appears that this strategy was unprofitable as rival pizza companies have been using third-party apps for years.

• Donatos Pizza is developing an automated pizza vending machine to be used in their stores.

• McDonald’s is discontinuing their line of McCafé Bakery items that debuted back in 2020.

• Romacorp Inc. has named Mohaimina Haque CEO.

• Twin Peaks announced that their partner 3B Lodge has expanded the current area development agreement to add four new franchised locations to Iowa, Nebraska, and Oklahoma.

• Wingstop has named Anne Fischer as Chief Growth Officer.