Corporate Responsibility

Ahold on Monday announced that the King of the Netherlands has honored its request to use the predicate “Koninklijke” (“Royal”) after its intended merger with Delhaize Group.

Upon completion of the proposed merger, the statutory name of the combined company will be “Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize N.V.”

Most people do not get a paid holiday for “Leap Day,” Feb. 29.

Then again, most people do not work for online footwear and apparel retailer Zappos. Known for doing things a little differently, such as replacing the traditional bureaucratic management structure with decentralized “holacracy,” Zappos is taking a novel approach to Leap Day.

Chattanooga, Tenn. -- CBL & Associates Properties announced it will be partnership with Girls World Expo. Girls World Expo is an organization that produces one-day events that bring young women together with positive female role models and programming meant to empower girls and help them realize their potential. In 2016, the expo will make stops at 10 CBL centers across the country.

Whole Foods Market’s knack for recycling and showcasing local memorabilia is reflected in its just-opened store in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin.

The 47,500-sq.-ft supermarket features a reclaimed bowling alley wood cladding at the juice bar. (Milwaukee is home to the oldest certified bowling alley in the United States.) A firefly motif is incorporated throughout the space, which was constructed by Chicago-based Novak Construction. (Wauwatosa is named after the Native-American Potawatomi tribe’s word for firefly.)

Rudolph E. Milian, former senior staff VP of the International Council of Shopping Centers and a leading retail real estate development executive, has launched Woodcliff Realty Advisors LLC, a full-service management consultancy that brings together an elite group of retail and real estate professionals and experts to serve shopping center companies, retailers, commercial real estate organizations, communities and investors worldwide.

Ahold USA is following a cue from other retail giants in announcing that its companies' private label shell eggs will be 100% cage-free by 2022.

Ahold USA says its retail divisions – Stop & Shop, Giant Food of Landover, Giant Food Stores of Carlisle, Martin's and online grocer Peapod – now offer cage-free, free-range, organic, and traditional egg varieties for its customers.  Approximately 80% of all eggs sold among Ahold USA companies are sold as "Own Brands" or private label.

CVS Health's decision to stop selling cigarettes is having its intended impact - 52% of those consumers who used to buy their cigarettes from CVS say it is now harder to buy cigarettes altogether, according to a survey commissioned by V2, a manufacturer of electronic cigarette and vaporizer products.

CVS Health's decision to stop selling cigarettes is having its intended impact - 52% of those consumers who used to buy their cigarettes from CVS say it is now harder to buy cigarettes altogether, according to a survey commissioned by V2, a manufacturer of electronic cigarette and vaporizer products. Out of that group, 73% called the impact manageable, stating that “buying cigarettes is now harder but I have other options” and 27% said it made buying them “much harder.”

The Kroger Co.'s senior VP for retail operations and strategic initiatives plans to retire in April.

The company announced that Marnette Perry plans to retire on April 29, after 44 years with the company.