Supermarket, Grocery, & C-Store
• Aurora Grocery Group has appointed Franky Jorge its new Chairman. He succeeds Omar Jorge.
• Meijer Inc. recently opened new stores in Hillsdale, MI, Alliance, OH, and North Canton, OH.
• Schnuck Markets Inc. announced that it is closing its Eatwell Market locations.
• Thrive Market has named April Lane as its new Chief Merchandising Officer.
• Weis Markets Inc. plan to open six new stores, and remodel 26 stores, in 2025.
• Whole Foods Market Inc. reported it plans to open 30 new store locations a year.
Retail
• Amazon.com Inc. reported Adam Selipsky is leaving the company. Matt Garman will assume the role of CEO Amazon Web Services as of June 3.
• Dollar General Corp. has named Lee DeVille as Senior VP Store Operations.
• Groupe Dynamite Inc. has recently opened its 100th Garage store location in the U.S.
• Kodiak Building Partners recently acquired Valley Lumber & Rental in Victor, ID.
• Petco Health and Wellness Company, Inc. has named Glenn Murphy as its new Executive Chairman.
• Target Corporation announced it will now sell its private Cat & Jack kids’ brand to all Hudson’s Bay Company stores in Canada.
• Ted Baker reported it will close all its stores in the U.S. as well as nine store locations in Canada. The retailer also ended e-commerce sales.
• Toys “R” Us Inc. announced it will open Babies “R” Us shops at 200 Kohl’s Corporation stores nationwide.
• Tractor Supply Co. recently opened a 1.1 million sq. ft. distribution center in Maumelle, AR.
• Wayfair Inc. will open its first store location this month. The 150,000 sq. ft., two-floor store will be in Wilmette, IL.
Restaurant
• BurgerFi has continued to shrink their footprint by closing 8 additional stores.
• McDonalds is planning a $5 value meal this summer as they hope curb losing customers over higher priced items.
• Red Lobster has closed at least 50 locations in an abrupt move. Employees were not notified of the closures and the company’s restaurant equipment is already up for auction. Red Lobster is expected to file for bankruptcy next week and could close even more stores.
• Restaurant Brands International has completed their acquisition of Carrols Restaurant Group, the largest Burger King franchisee in the U.S. The purchase is part of the “Reclaim the Flame” plan the will see RBI acquire larger franchisees and refranchise them to smaller operators.
• White Castle has launched commemorative merchandise for the 20th anniversary of the film, Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle.
• Zaxby’s is partnering with YouTube star, MrBeast, to launch a new value meal bundle. MrBeast was partnered with Virtual Dining Concepts in 2020 with the popular MrBeast Burger.
