Instacart, a national on-demand grocery delivery service, has entered into a partnership with Lowes Foods to bring same-day delivery to more than 350,000 North Carolina households in the Raleigh-Durham area. Instacart customers in Raleigh-Durham now can purchase groceries from Lowes Foods by visiting instacart.com or downloading the Instacart app to fill their virtual carts—with everything […]
Category: Independent Store News
Patriarch Oral Edwards, GES Founder, Passes Away In Arkansas
He was a confidant of the future President Bill Clinton and with his wife twice met Prince Charles and Princess Diana. Not bad for “a couple of folks from Arkansas.” Mr. Oral Winston Edwards, 87, of Forrest City, Arkansas, passed away Sept. 29. A self-made man, Mr. Edwards founded GES Inc., which today operates stores […]
Food Industry Associations Praise Tax Reform Proposal
The National Grocers Association (NGA), Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) have high praise for the proposed tax reform framework published by the group known as the “Big Six.” The group is made up of Republican congressional leaders and administration officials, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Treasury […]
Piggly Wiggly Midwest Sets Launch Date For New Website
Piggly Wiggly Midwest will launch a new website on Oct. 2 with user-friendly navigation, an easy to read weekly circular, personalized accounts and thousands of new recipes. Consumers will be able to find desired information quickly for a more streamlined shopping experience. The circular will be easier to read than before with larger print and improved graphics. […]
Festival Foods Celebrating Two Renovated Wisconsin Stores
Festival Foods will celebrate two recently renovated stores in Baraboo and Portage, Wisconsin, with ribbon-cutting ceremonies Sept. 27. In May, Festival Foods announced plans to purchase two of the Pierce’s Supermarkets located in Baraboo and Portage. The two stores began operating as Festival Foods on June 20. Renovations in both stores are now complete, and […]
Roche Bros. Planning Its Third Brothers Marketplace
Roche Bros. has unveiled plans for a third Brothers Marketplace—this one in Waltham, Massachusetts—in the spring of 2018. The neighborhood market will provide customers with a one-stop grocery shopping and dining experience with a curated selection of fresh foods, local and specialty products, prepared meals and grocery essentials, the company says. Brothers Marketplace, with locations already […]
Unata E-Commerce Solution Drives Growth For Lunds & Byerlys
Unata, a provider of 1-to-1 digital solutions for grocers, is revealing a double-digit increase in online sales for family-owned Minnesota-based grocer Lunds & Byerlys following the launch of its Unified Shopping Experience. This brand new solution integrates all aspects of digital grocery, including e-commerce, list-building, digital loyalty, digital coupons, catering and more into one “simplified, […]
ShopRite Expands Its Own-Label Wholesome Pantry Line
ShopRite is expanding its Wholesome Pantry line of organic and “better-for-you” products with options such as cookies, trail mixes, single-serve snacks, organic honey, organic juices and organic fruit preserves. The new items will roll out in the next few months. Since launching the line in December of 2016, ShopRite has introduced about 210 products as […]
CobornsDelivers Adds Lunches To Its Fall Meal Kit Lineup
As consumer interest in meal kits continues to grow, Coborn’s online service, CobornsDelivers, has launched its fall meal kit menu. To meet families’ need for “healthy, adventurous, homemade meals” during the back-to-school season, the company has launched not only seven dinner meal kits but also, for the first time, nine school lunch kit choices. All […]
Festival Foods Provides Update On Gordy’s Market Acquisitions
Festival Foods entered into new agreements to purchase three Gordy’s Market locations in Wisconsin—two in Eau Claire and one in Tomah—on Sept. 13. Festival Foods had announced plans to acquire those three Gordy’s Market locations in July, but those plans temporarily stalled in August when Gordy’s announced it would have a receiver appointed. Now that […]
Honey Bee Produce Co. Opens First Store In Draper, Utah
Specialty grocer Honey Bee Produce Co. has debuted in Draper, Utah. A small-format store, Honey Bee says it is the first store of its kind in Utah, catering to shoppers looking for “the freshest produce, specialty items and Utah products.” Its grand opening was held Sept. 13, highlighted by a produce slicing demonstration from a “produce […]
Festival Foods To Open Replacement Holmen, Wisconsin, Store Oct. 6
Festival Foods will open its newest store at 123 Hale Drive in Holmen, Wisconsin, at 6 a.m. Friday, Oct. 6. The new location replaces the current Holmen store at 600 Holmen Drive. At 67,000 s.f., the new store is nearly double the size of the current location, allowing shoppers to find an expanded selection of […]
Publix Opens New Florida Store In Winter Garden’s Hamlin Development
The 53,785-s.f. Publix store in the Hamlin community, a master-planned, mixed-use development, will offer the traditional grocery, meat, produce, dairy and frozen food departments, as well as pharmacy, bakery, deli, floral and fresh seafood departments. Approximately 145 Publix associates will be employed at the store. “We are pleased and excited to have the opportunity to serve the beautiful Hamlin community in Winter […]
Cadillac Meijer Gets 500th Tomra Reverse Vending Machine
Tomra has installed its 500th T-90 Reverse Vending Machine (RVM) at a Meijer store in Cadillac, Michigan. Reverse vending machines allow consumers to return empty beverage containers like bottles or cans for recycling. The Meijer store now has eight T-90s. “Having the 500th installation of our T-90 RVM within a year after the initial launch of the technology […]
Northeast Retailers Continue Their Hurricane Relief Efforts
Ahold USA and its brands—Stop & Shop, Giant Food of Landover and Giant Food Stores of Carlisle—on Sept. 5 announced donations totaling $250,000 to help with relief and recovery efforts following Hurricane Harvey. Other donations were announced by Key Food Stores Co-operative and Sheetz convenience stores. The donations, comprising $175,000 in cash donations and additional donations of $75,000 in food and supplies, will […]
Associated Food Stores ‘Stuff A Truck’ For Hurricane Relief
In an effort to support its neighbors in Texas and southwest Louisiana who have been impacted by Hurricane Harvey, area shoppers can donate at the registers of their local Associated Food Store, supplied by Associated Grocers (AG) of Baton Rouge. Shoppers can visit mylocalafs.com to see if a store in their area is participating in […]
Chef’d Meal Kits Make Grocery Retail Debut At Gelson’s
Chef’d, an e-commerce meal kit marketplace, has entered into a partnership with Gelson’s Markets in a strategic push to expand distribution into retail. Gelson’s will offer Chef’d meal kits at the Gelson’s Valley Village/North Hollywood, California, store on Laurel Canyon Blvd., with plans to expand into other locations across the retailer’s Southern California store portfolio. […]
Publix Again Named Top National March For Babies Corporate Partner
For the second year in a row, Publix Super Markets is the number one national March for Babies corporate partner, raising more than $8.3 million dollars for the cause. “On behalf of the four million babies born each year in the United States, March of Dimes is grateful to Publix, their associates and customers for their exceptional caring […]
Homeland Donates $30K, Helps 300 Children Have Enough To Eat
Homeland, a locally owned grocery store chain with 31 locations in Oklahoma, has donated $30,000 to the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma’s Food for Kids program as part of the chain’s commitment to “ensuring Oklahoma’s children have enough to eat this school year.” Thanks to the Food for Kids match, this donation will be matched dollar […]
Macey’s Makes $68K+ Donation To Primary Children’s Hospital
Continuing a 30-year tradition, Macey’s grocery stores donated $68,536.59 to Primary Children’s Hospital during a check presentation last week. The donation was raised through the grocery store’s Macey’s Caring for Kids drive that ran from June 5-30 in 12 locations. During the drive, guests were invited to donate during checkout to support the hospital. “Macey’s has been […]
