by Peter Larkin/ president and CEO, National Grocers Association Special to The Shelby Report Congress has the chance to strengthen the food security safety net, also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, for recipients and retailers in the 2018 Farm Bill. Every five years, Congress must pass a comprehensive omnibus bill that’s one of […]
Category: Shelby Signature Content
Guest Column: An Easier Way To Tackle Power Outages
by John Lerch/ director of sales, Axiom Energy No matter how reliable and resilient our electrical grid is, the power will go out from time to time. While immediately our minds are brought to the severe outages caused by natural disasters, even outages lasting a few hours long can result in significant losses for some […]
HAC Seeks To Build Awareness Around Employee-Owned Companies
by Terrie Ellerbee/editor-Southwest There is something special about employee-owned companies. Marc Jones, president and CEO of HAC Inc., sees it as an attribute that attracts both employees and customers. “An employee-owned business is seen as a big plus in both groups, which is kind of a fun thing,” he told The Shelby Report’s Jan Meade, […]
Alabama Market Profile: State’s Economy Is On The Upswing
by Lorrie Griffith/editor–Southeast Alabama’s economy is on the upswing, according to Ellie Taylor, president of the Alabama Grocers Association AGA), located in Birmingham. In fact, the state’s unemployment rate is now 3.5 percent—the lowest in its history. The good times look to be continuing, as two major plants were announced in January. One is a […]
Larkin: 2017 Year In Review For Independent Grocers
by Peter Larkin/ president and CEO, National Grocers Association Special to The Shelby Report Last year was an exciting one for the supermarket industry, which is perhaps undergoing more rapid change than at any other time. As usual, though, independent grocers proved—once again—that they’re the best equipped to evolve with changing times and serve their communities. […]
Independent Grocer Manning Rethinks How Things Are Done
Danny Manning has come a long way since he started as a bagger at 15 years old at a Food Town store in Eight Mile, Alabama. He moved to stocking, found favor with the company and got a produce rack about a year later. Once he graduated from high school, Manning went on to study […]
Nevada Market Profile: State Drawing New Residents, New Business
by Lorrie Griffith/editor–West “Go west, young man” is how the saying goes. But today, some young men (and women) and older people, too, are doing the opposite and going east, according to a Dec. 3 article in the Los Angeles Times. They are leaving Southern California to head to Las Vegas to “find the middle-class […]
Remodel Yields Amazing Returns For Southeast Georgia Independent
In 2016, Reynolds Foodliner converted its store in the southeast Georgia town of Hazlehurst to the Piggly Wiggly Country Fresh banner. As part of the Country Fresh part of the name, the store features expanded fresh departments like meat, produce and deli/bakery. “We have had a tremendous amount of success in that store,” notes Tom […]
Born On One Coast & Based On The Other, Cohn Wholesale Serves Small Towns In Between
Editor’s note: This story is part of the Dakotas Market Profile, which can be found in the February 2018 print edition of The Shelby Report of the Midwest. by Terrie Ellerbee/editor—Midwest and Southwest The Cohn name likely is familiar to some in the Midwest, where Cohn Wholesale once operated 20 stores. The family business, however, began in […]
URM Stores Continues To Strengthen Its Value Proposition For Retailers
Ray Sprinkle has been at the helm of URM Stores Inc. in Spokane, Washington, for four years now. During that time, the retailer-owned co-op has enjoyed some bright spots, like sales growth and a frozen and refrigerated warehouse expansion, while also weathering some storms, including a data breach. The future looks to be mostly sunny, […]
Georgia Independent’s Own-Recipe Fried Peanut Clusters Spawn A Thriving Second Business
by Lorrie Griffith/editor–Southeast West Foods, an independent grocery store in the rural southwest Georgia town of Edison, has been making and selling fried peanuts to its customers for many years. The store’s owner, John West, who bought the store from his dad, Richard, back earlier in this decade, said the peanuts have always been a […]
Year In Review 2017: Top Stories In The Southeast
New competition—namely Lidl—garnered the most press in the Southeast edition this year. The merger of Amazon and Whole Foods Market also generated a good bit of speculation about what that might mean for the grocery industry. A number of top-level executive changes took place among the region’s grocers this year. Many also fine-tuned formats, undertook […]
At Hanover Co-op Food Stores, ‘Local’ Actually Means Local
Associated Grocers of New England member If you’ve ever seen a picture postcard of a quaint New England town, then you have a pretty good idea about the communities Hanover Co-op Food Stores serves, according to Allan Reetz, director of public relations. The 81-year-old co-op operates four retail stores in the Upper Connecticut River Valley, […]
Arizona Enjoying Economic Rebound, Business-Friendly Climate
by Lorrie Griffith/editor–West Arizona has rebounded strong economically over the past year, with its unemployment rate down to 4.5 percent vs. 5 percent the prior year and about 80,000 jobs added. Added fuel for optimism is a more business-friendly climate at both the state and federal government levels, Tim McCabe, president of the Arizona Food […]
Bristol Farms Celebrates Grand Opening Of New-Concept Store
Bristol Farms recently celebrated the grand opening of its prototype store on Mulholland Drive in Woodland Hills, California. It is the first major design departure for Bristol Farms in its 35-year history and is “a store that we’ve been dreaming up for a decade,” Kacie Davis, owner of KMDesign Co., which implemented the design, told The […]
Letting The Food Speak For Itself: Bristol Farms’ New-Concept Mulholland Store
Bristol Farms’ new prototype store will open Nov. 11. The 25,000-s.f. store on Mulholland Drive in Woodland Hills, California, located in a space formerly owned by Haggen, is the first major design departure for Bristol Farms in its 35-year history and is “a store that we’ve been dreaming up for a decade,” Kacie Davis, owner […]
Smart & Final’s Scott And Kelly Drew ‘Putting Life Back Together’ After Fire
by Alissa Marchat/web editor It’s been a devastating month for many California residents. Fires in both Northern and Southern California have claimed dozens of lives and thousands of buildings, among them the home of Smart & Final EVP of Operations Scott Drew and his wife Kelly. Scott’s name is likely a familiar one to many […]
Changes Are Coming To NEW As Technology, Financial Industries Approached
by Terrie Ellerbee/editor-Southwest & Midwest Sarah Alter took over as president of the Network of Executive Women (NEW) on June 5. She may be new to the organization, but not to its ideals. She has had a penchant for helping women and diverse leaders advance throughout her career, which fits perfectly with NEW’s vision to […]
Tandy Harvey Is Shelby’s Midwest Woman Executive Of The Year
Providence Brought Tandy Harvey to Supervalu by Terrie Ellerbee/editor-Midwest Tandy S. Harvey will tell you she loves Supervalu, a company she has spent more than three decades serving. Her first job was a part-time summer gig in a warehouse in Champaign, Illinois, in the mid-1980s. She was in college earning a mechanical engineering technology degree […]
Federated Group Gains Shopko, Banner Wholesale
Federated Group, which will celebrate its 90th year in business this December, brought its annual show back to a historic landmark, The Drake Hotel in Chicago. Federated Group takes over the luxurious venue and invites attendees, many of whom return every year, to catch up with a first-night cocktail reception. Jen Linke, VP of brand […]
