Posted inOnline Grocery Technology, Associated Wholesale Grocers, Featured News, Midwest, News

AWG Rolls Out SmartMeals AI Shopping Assistant

Associated Wholesale Grocers‘ (AWG) SmartMeals, its artificial intelligence-powered meal planning and shopping assistant built in partnership with Breez AI Corporation, has moved from pilot to wide-scale deployment across its member network. Nearly 100 AWG member stores are now onboarded, with 85 stores going live in January and additional rollouts under way. The announcement comes as […]

Posted inOnline Grocery Technology, National, News

Afresh Expands AI Platform To Cover Full Store

Afresh, a grocery artificial intelligence company that built its platform around fresh department complexity, has announced that its system now covers every department in the store,  including center store, frozen, general merchandise, health and beauty and the full fresh perimeter. The expansion makes Afresh the only grocery AI platform capable of managing replenishment, demand forecasting, […]

Posted inOnline Grocery Technology, Featured News, National, News

Instacart, NVIDIA Build AI Platform to Unify In-Store, Online Grocery Retail

Instacart is building what it calls a “grocery world model” – a continuous learning artificial intelligence system that connects physical store data from its Caper Cart smart shopping carts with its online commerce platform in collaboration with NVIDIA. The initiative represents how it intends to use its scale across 2,200-plus retail banners and 100,000-plus locations […]

Posted inIndependent Store News, Executive News, Lowes Foods, News, Southeast

Lowes Foods Opens New Location On Johns Island, SC

Lowes Foods opened a new store March 12 on Johns Island, South Carolina, expanding its Charleston market footprint to five locations. The store at 3575 Maybank Highway occupies a building that formerly housed a KJ’s Market and which underwent extensive renovations before the transition. The Johns Island location features Lowes Foods’ signature “Originals” – specialized […]

Posted inIndependent Store News, Featured News, Harps Food Stores, News, Southeast

Harps Food Stores To Acquire 18 Stores From Dyer Foods In TN, KY

Harps Food Stores has entered into a purchase agreement to acquire 18 stores from Joey and Jeanie Hays, owners of independent grocery operator Dyer Foods, with 17 of the locations in western Tennessee and one in Kentucky. Both parties anticipate completing the transaction by this summer, with store banners, employment and operations continuing with minimal […]

Posted inIndependent Store News, Deli News, Featured News, News, Northeast

Allie B’s Mac & Cheese Expands To 120 Market 32, Price Chopper Locations

Market 32 and Price Chopper announced that Allie B’s Mac & Cheese has expanded to 120 of its stores across six Northeastern states, one year after debuting in 21 Albany, New York-area locations. More than 34,000 pounds of the product were shipped in the first year to meet customer demand. The gourmet mac and cheese […]

Posted inAssociation News, Featured News, Midwest, News

MGA’s 2025 Bag Hunger Campaign Raises 1.9M Meals Statewide

The Minnesota Grocers Association (MGA) announced the Silver Plate Award winners of its 2025 Bag Hunger Campaign, which collected 1.9 million meals and $16,500 for neighborhood hunger-relief organizations across the state. Since the program launched in 2008, MGA hunger campaigns have delivered more than 47 million meals to Minnesota families. The campaign engages grocers, vendor […]

Posted inIndependent Store News, Featured News, Meijer, Midwest, News

Meijer To Open 3 New Stores On May 6

Meijer will open three new stores May 6 – 159,000-square-foot supercenters in Bainbridge Township, Ohio, and Brownsburg, Indiana, and a 47,000-square-foot grocery store in Rochester Hills, Michigan. The openings bring Meijer’s Ohio store count to 59, Indiana to 44 and add a third grocery location in Michigan, where it has 125 supercenters and market format […]