Supermarket, Grocery, & C-Store
• Aldi Inc. is opening four new locations this week in AZ, CA, FL, and IL.
• Circle K Stores Inc. announced it is planning to open 60 convenience stores in Wisconsin over the next few years.
• FreshDirect Inc. has named Sloan Eddleston as CEO of the company.
• Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. has appointed Ramesh Chikkala to the newly created position of Exec VP, COO.
• Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores Inc. reported it plans to open 20 to 25 new locations and remodel between 35 to 40 stores in 2024.
Retail
• 84 Lumber Co. announced Mark Ingersoll has been named Area Manager of its West Division.
• Cost Plus Inc. will open a 19,000 sq. ft. World Market store in Paramus, NJ, later this year.
• Do it Best Corp. has promoted Corbin Prows to Divisional Manager of E-commerce and Brianna Wells to Divisional Manager Digital Marketing.
• eBay Inc. reported it will reduce its workforce by approximately 1,000 people or 9% of its full-time employees.
• H & M Group announced that Helena Helmersson, its CEO, has left the company. She will be succeeded by Daniel Erver.
• Joe’s Jeans Inc. has named Dani Michelle as its new Creative Director.
• Lululemon Athletica Inc. reported it plans to debut its first men’s footwear line.
• Recreational Equipment Inc. announced it would lay off 357 corporate employees.
• RONA Inc. announced that it plans to cut about 300 jobs and close two distribution centers in Terrebonne, QC, and Calgary, AB.
• Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance, Inc. reported that Prama Bhatt, its Chief Digital Officer, has left the company.
• Walmart Stores Inc. reported it plans to open more than 150 larger-format stores during the next five years while also remodeling existing locations. Over the next year, the retailer expects to remodel 650 stores.
Restaurant
• Blaze Pizza has named Christian Kuhn as Chief Marketing Officer.
• Inspire Brands has promoted Jason Maceda to Chief Development Officer.
• McDonald’s has updated their burger lineup in all U.S. stores. Every burger item on the menu has been altered with new buns, additional sauces, and new cooking processes. This is the first time the company has altered their burgers since 2018 when they removed artificial ingredients from their burger menu.
• Starbucks came in under sales estimates in the China market, but the company does not plan to change prices or expansion plans in the region.
• Subway debuted a new Sidekicks platform that features footlong pretzels and cookies and the company reported that 3.5 million items were sold in the first two weeks.
• Sweetgreen has added an annual membership to their loyalty program.
• Swig has named Bill Ayers as CFO.
• Walk-On’s has named Andy Izquierdo as VP of Communications and Trey Hughes as Senior Director of Franchise Sales.