The Fresh Market recently reopened a store in Hendersonville, North Carolina, following more than a year of repairs and renovations after Hurricane Helene damage in 2024. The reopening included a $5,000 donation to MANNA Food Bank and a bread-breaking ceremony with the Hendersonville High School marching band. Mayor Barbara Volk and Chamber of Commerce President […]
Category: Southeast
Posted inIndependent Store News, Featured News, Food City, Health & Wellness, News, Southeast
Food City Expands NationsBenefit Flex Card Access For Members
NationsBenefits has integrated its Flex Card network with Food City, allowing eligible health plan members to use prepaid benefit cards at all of the grocer’s participating locations in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, Georgia and Alabama. Using the NationsBenefits Mastercard Prepaid Flex Card, they will be able to buy approved food as medicine items, over-the-counter (OTC) health […]
Posted inCorporate Store News, Featured News, News, Southeast, Southwest
Sprouts Farmers Market Opens 3 New Stores In FL, TX
Sprouts Farmers Market opened three new stores in late February and early March, adding two Florida locations and one in Texas. The first store opened Feb. 27 at 1591 N. Williamson Blvd. in Daytona Beach, Florida. That was followed by two locations on March 6 – one at 3420 South U.S. Hwy. 27 in Clermont, […]
Posted inOnline Grocery Technology, Executive News, Featured News, News, Southeast
ECRS Names Rosner Chief Revenue Officer
ECRS, a Boone, North Carolina.-based retail technology company, has named Merrick Rosner chief revenue officer. Rosner brings more than a decade of executive experience in retail technology and previously served on the National Retailer Advisory Board of the Independent Grocers Alliance (IGA). In his new role, Rosner will oversee customer experience, sales operations and strategic […]
Posted inIndependent Store News, Merchant Distributors, News, Online Grocery Technology, Southeast
Swiftly, MDI Bringing Digital Circular, AI Targeting To Independent Grocers
Swiftly has partnered with Merchants Distributors (MDI), a Hickory, N.C.-based wholesale grocery distributor, to expand digital capabilities across MDI’s network of more than 600 independent retailers in the Southeast. Under the agreement, MDI retailers will gain access to three Swiftly products – a modern retail website platform, SmartCircular for digitizing the weekly circular experience and Audience […]
Posted inProduce News, Featured News, News, Southeast
Healthy Family Project Raised $348K In 2025 For Food Security
Healthy Family Project gathered more than 200 produce industry professionals Feb. 27 for its annual Thank You Reception during the Southeast Produce Council’s 2026 Southern Exposure event in Orlando, celebrating a year of cause marketing campaigns that raised more than $348,000 for charitable partners. The funds benefited Feeding America food banks, the Foundation for Fresh […]
Posted inCorporate Store News, Featured News, Southeast, Walmart
Walmart Opens New Supercenter In The Villages, FL
Walmart opened a new supercenter March 4 at 11115 Waxman Drive in The Villages, a 55-and-up community in central Florida. The “next generation” store opened with a community celebration “highlighting the store’s associates, new products and services, Fresh From Florida produce and local nonprofit partners,” the retailer said. “Today is a proud moment for our […]
Posted inBakery News, Executive News, Featured News, News, Southeast
Flowers Foods Promotes Lorge To Lead Simple Mills Unit
Michelle Lorge has been named president of the Simple Mills business of Thomasville, Georgia-based Flowers Foods Inc., the company announced March 2. Lorge succeeds Simple Mills founder and CEO Katlin Smith, who Flowers said “has made a personal decision to step down to spend more time with her family and on philanthropic interests, and will […]