Supermarket, Grocery, & C-Store

• Albertsons Companies, Inc. and The Kroger Co.’s announced merger has been postponed.

• Amazon.com Inc. plans to open two new Amazon Fresh stores in Pennsylvania.

• Fareway Stores Inc. recently opened a new 10,600 sq. ft. grocery store in Hull, IA. More new stores are planned for Spirit Lake and Story City, IA, Coal City, IL, Basehor, KS, and Valley, NE.

• Food Lion LLC recently opened a new location in Garner, NC.

• Foxtrot Ventures Inc. plans to re-open four convenience store locations in Chicago, IL.

• H Mart has partnered with Uber Eats to offer delivery from its stores.

• Lowes Foods Inc. reported it is closing three stores in North Carolina and South Carolina by the end of August. The company is also planning to open its first store in Georgia soon.

Retail

• Conn’s HomePlus is going out of business. The retailer has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and plans to close all its stores.

• Cost Plus World Market recently opened a new 14,500 sq. ft. location in Cincinnati, OH. The retailer plans to open six additional new stores before the end of the year.

• Do it Best Corp. has appointed Randy Rusk as the new Executive Director of the Do it Best Foundation.

• Genesco Inc. has named Stacy Doren as Exec VP and Chief Marketing Officer of the Journeys Group.

• Kodiak Building Partners has acquired Thomas Building Center Inc.

• Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics Ltd. reported it plans to remodel all 260 of its U.S. stores over the next several months.

• Petco Health and Wellness Company, Inc. has named Joel Anderson as its new CEO.

• Ross Stores Inc. has opened 21 Ross Dress for Less locations and three DD’s Discounts stores across 17 states in the past couple months.

• Rothy’s Inc. recently opened a new store in New York City, NY. The company is planning to open two more new locations by the end of the year in Walnut Creek, CA, and Dallas, TX.

• Target Corporation opened three new stores this week in Lomita, CA, St. Louis, MO, and Doyletown, PA.

• Walmart Stores Inc. recently opened a new 730,000 sq. ft. distribution center in Lancaster, TX.

Restaurant

• Bojangles will be expanding their AI drive-thru voice bot, named Bo-Linda, to several hundred of their locations after finding the technology has a 95% success rate on order accuracy.

• California has passed mandates that require employers, including restaurants, to provide indoor workers with water and rest breaks if the indoor temperature reaches 82 degrees. If the workplace reaches 87 degrees, employers must cool down the workplace and provide heat-protective equipment. All these regulations take effect immediately, instead of giving the grace period that mandates usually have.

• Chipotle is partnering with Open Water and Poppi prebiotic soda and will be offering the beverages in all U.S. restaurants. The company is also addressing complaints about smaller portions sizes. Chipotle’s CEO has said that over 10% of the company’s restaurants scored poorly on portion sizes and they will be retraining employees at those locations.

• Cracker Barrel has named Sarah Moore as Chief Marketing Officer.

• McDonald’s will extend their $5 meal deal into August for 93% of locations. The deal was originally meant to end in July.

• Red Lobster will be purchased out of bankruptcy by its main creditor, Fortress Investment Group. Fortress is also the owner of Krystal and Logan’s Roadhouse.

• Starbucks has announced a new partnership with NextGen that involves six solar energy products that will bring solar power to 170 Illinois Starbucks stores.

• Walmart is partnering with Mr. Gatti’s Pizza and will be opening pizza shops inside 92 Walmart locations. The stores are located in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Kentucky and are slated to open by the Q4 of this year.