Mergers & Acquisitions

Ankeny, Iowa -- Casey’s General Stores said Thursday that it will break ground on its first site in Kentucky later this month. This store will be located in Cadiz, Ky., and will mark the 12th state in which the c-store chain operates.

The Cadiz store is slated to open summer 2012, and will be followed by additional stores in Paducah and Henderson later this year, said the company.

Casey’s said it also has land under contract in Tennessee with plans to break ground next fiscal year as well.

By Chris Blees, [email protected]

GOODLETTSVILLE, Tenn. — A former Safeway executive has joined Dollar General as its EVP store operations.

Effective March 19, Greg Sparks will assume all responsibilities for the operations of more than 9,900 retail stores in 38 states and serve on Dollar General's real estate and store development committee, the company said. Sparks will report to chairman and CEO Rick Dreiling.

Sparks most recently served as president of Safeway's Seattle division. His departure from the supermarket retailer was announced earlier this week.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- In a move to ensure that vendors continue to supply Sears its goods, Sears Holdings Corp.'s top shareholder ESL Investments, a hedge fund owned by Edward Lampert, has agreed to assume some payment obligations.

In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday and reported by Reuters, Sears said ESL made a deal on Jan. 26 with a financial institution to acquire 80% interest in an agreement designed to ensure payment to vendors in the event of a bankruptcy filing by a company.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- Sears Holdings Corp. revealed in a Wednesday document that it will close 43 Sears hometown dealer stores and 10 Sears Hardware stores over the first half of 2012.

The information came from the retailer’s annual report, filed late Wednesday, and is consistent with previously announced plans to close up to 120 underperforming Sears and Kmart stores and all nine of its remaining Great Indoors stores.

Montvale, N.J. -- Grocer The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. Inc. said Tuesday it has emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as a private company.

The company filed for bankruptcy protection in late 2010 but has re-emerged with operational financing, completed store renovations and new supplier and employee union agreements, as well as new management team, in place.

The outside world doesn’t have a lot of visibility into the bench strength of Target’s leadership team beyond the top tier of executives so it’s hard to know whether the company has the talent it needs to fill the void created by high profile defections to rival JCPenney.

Chain Store Age editor-in-chief Marianne Wilson and I go to great lengths to report new store openings on Chainstoreage.com. We pore through convoluted retail financial statements – sometimes twice daily – to uncover news that a chain has its sights set on even a little net new store growth for the year ahead.

I reported earlier today that Urban Outfitters, despite a challenging fourth quarter that saw profits cut nearly in half from the year before, was planning as many as 60 new stores in fiscal 2013.