Phoenix, Arizona-based healthy grocer Sprouts Farmers Market Inc. announced in mid-January that it soon will finish construction of a new store in Pasadena, Maryland. The nearly 30,000-s.f. store at 8048 Ritchie Highway will open at 7 a.m. April 15. Details about the grand opening celebration will be announced later. “Since Sprouts first opened in the […]
Category: Produce News
The Shelby Report covers the produce industry for grocery retailers nationwide, from fresh fruit and vegetable trends and supplier announcements to merchandising strategies and regional market news. Updated regularly across our five regional editions.
Find all our fresh coverage in Focus on Fresh.
California Agricultural Companies Help Boost K-9 Campaign
Maxco Supply Inc. and SunWest Fruit Co. are collectively pledging $15,000 to help kick off the Parlier Police Department’s “Campaign K-9,” which seeks to raise $80,000 to cover the costs associated with purchasing the animal. The police dog will be tasked with protecting the rural community of Parlier in Fresno County, California, and assist with […]
Calavo Growers’ Renaissance Food Group To Acquire Simply Fresh Fruit
Calavo Growers Inc.’s Renaissance Food Group (RFG) subsidiary has signed a definitive agreement to acquire SFFI Co. Inc. doing business as Simply Fresh Fruit (SFFI). Founded in 1999 and based in Vernon, California, privately held SFFI is a processor and supplier of a broad line of fresh-cut fruit, principally serving the foodservice and hospitality markets […]
Hass Avocado Board Offers New Category Market Development Tool
A new Avocado Category Market Development Tool just released by the Hass Avocado Board is designed to help retailers and industry stakeholders identify, quantify and prioritize potential market-level opportunities for 45 markets. Each market has a unique profile, which varies significantly by population, category development and other measures using a multi-metric model approach to reviewing […]
Hanford, California’s First Smart & Final Extra! Store To Open Jan. 29
Smart & Final, the Los Angeles-based grocery warehouse store for household and business customers, is getting bigger in Hanford, California, with a new Smart & Final Extra! opening on Jan. 29. Located at 552 N. 11th Avenue, the new 35,000-s.f. Smart & Final Extra! will be almost three times the size of the existing store […]
Produce Marketing Agency Unveils Food Trends And Insights For 2020
DMA Solutions, a Dallas, Texas-based full-service marketing agency exclusively serving the fresh produce industry, has released its annual Food Trends eMagazine. In an effort to provide insight on a constantly evolving food space, DMA Solutions researched and compiled the top trends predicted for 2020 across all aspects of the food supply chain, fresh produce and […]
Plenty Expands Product Availability Through Bay Area Food Retailers
Plenty, a vertical farming company with headquarters in South San Francisco, will be bringing its products to several Bay Area retailers. Whole Foods Market locations in San Francisco—including Franklin, Potrero Hill and Soma—and Safeway locations in Menlo Park and Oakland have joined Andronico’s, Good Eggs, Berkeley Bowl and Draeger’s grocery stores to offer Plenty’s produce. The retailers are carrying […]
Mata’s Fruit Store To Offer Customers Online Shopping With Local Express
Mata’s Fruit Store in El Paso, Texas, plans to open its first digital store in early 2020, deploying online shopping technology from Local Express. Owned and operated by the Mata family since 1955, Mata’s Fruit Store has expanded several times over the years and offers a large selection of fruits and vegetables, a full-service meat […]
NCSPC Looks To Future Of Agriculture At Annual Meeting Of Membership
The North Carolina SweetPotato Commission (NCSPC) hosted its Annual Meeting of Membership in Goldsboro, North Carolina, on Jan. 16. Commission members from across North Carolina gathered at the Maxwell Center to hear the latest updates from marketing and branding, talk about current and future state of the industry, explore the trade show, recognize achievements among peers and […]
SOUTHWEST: New Allsup’s Market Opens In Melrose, New Mexico
Allsup’s Convenience Stores, one of the first to offer self-serve gasoline and self-serve fountain drinks, is bringing another first to its customers—the new Allsup’s Market in Melrose, New Mexico. Allsup’s recently was acquired by Yesway, which is now the 18th largest convenience store chain in the country. One-part convenience store, with expanded grocery and perishables, […]
Romaine Outbreak Declared Over, California LGMA Focuses On Safety
On Jan. 15, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) declared e. Coli outbreaks associated with romaine lettuce grown in the Salinas, California, region over and the agencies have lifted the consumer advisory. In a statement, the FDA said there is no longer a need for consumers to avoid romaine lettuce from […]
New Food City Store Coming To Etowah, Tennessee
Food City is building a new store on US-411 North in Etowah, Tennessee. The 41,100-plus-s.f. supermarket will replace its existing location and be constructed on the same site. “The residents of Etowah have certainly been supportive of our company and we look forward to providing our valued customers with a new, larger state-of-the-art Food City […]
Basics To Open New Store In Hillsdale Neighborhood Of Portland, Oregon
Basics, a new market designed to help people cook more at home and support local farmers and producers with fresh, regional ingredients, will open its newest location in Hillsdale this February. The locally owned grocery is leasing the 12,000-s.f. space formerly occupied by Food Front at 6344 SW Capitol Highway. Basics was founded by Chuck […]
Big Bear Stater Bros. Has Grand Reopening After Extensive Renovations
Stater Bros. Markets has served the Big Bear community since 1980, and nearly 40 years later, its Big Bear location has been extensively renovated in response to requests from local residents and visitors seeking to take to the slopes. Located at 42171 Big Bear Boulevard, the store will continue to be led by Rick Jaeger, […]
Seal The Seasons Expands National Distribution, Surpasses 3,000 Stores
Seal the Seasons, the first national brand to sell locally grown frozen fruit, has expanded its distribution to seven new retailers over the last six months and is now available in more than 3,000 locations across 35 states. The Chapel Hill, North Carolina-based company has added three conventional and four natural retailers to its nationwide […]
WEST: Photo Update: Smart & Final Extra! Opens In Watts Neighborhood Of LA
Smart & Final opened its doors Jan. 8 at Jordan Downs Plaza, a mixed-use public housing community in Los Angeles’ Watts neighborhood. The brand-new grocery store is a vital part of the redevelopment of Jordan Downs. In an area that has faced the challenge of convenient access to nutritious food, the new store says it […]
Crunch Time Premium Apples Achieved Robust Sales Growth In 2019
The most recent Nielsen data shows Crunch Time Apple Growers’ two brands of premium apples continued to build momentum and sales growth in 2019, and they don’t appear to be slowing down as they head into 2020. In fact, for the three regions included in Nielsen’s latest review—Mid-Atlantic, South Atlantic and New England—SnapDragon, one of […]
Nonconventional Grocery Trends Forecast For 2020
Grocery shoppers can expect to see expanded produce departments, new sections for plant-based food and more cannabis products in 2020, says John Karolefski, supermarket analyst and purveyor of GroceryStories.com. Karolefski says many grocers will eliminate plastic bags at checkout and blend digital with physical shopping to keep customers and attract new ones. “Grocers will aim […]
Dole ‘Sunshine For All’ Float Wins Queen Award At 2020 Rose Parade
Dole Packaged Foods’ 2020 Rose Parade float, “Sunshine for All,” took home the Queen Award, which is given to the float with the most outstanding presentation of roses. Dole said the float, which featured a large golden sun with tropical waterfalls, celebrated the company’s belief that everyone has the right to nutritious foods, and its […]
Natural Grocers To Open 14th Oregon Store In Klamath Falls On Jan. 15
Natural Grocers will open a store in Klamath Falls, Oregon, on Wednesday, Jan. 15, providing the community with access to organic and natural groceries. The store, located at 2800 S. 6th Street, will open at 8:30 a.m., and customers will have the chance to win up to $100 per week in free groceries for six […]
