Convenience Stores

Whole Foods Market will take the wraps off its new value concept, 365 by Whole Foods Market, on May 25 in Silver Lake, California.

Two additional 365 locations will open in 2016 – in Bellevue, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. Up to 10 stores are expected to open in 2017.

Pilot Flying J, the largest operator of travel centers in North America, is upgrading the indoor and outdoor lighting at select locations.

The company has entered into an agreement with Cree for an LED retrofit of interior and exterior lighting, to include parking lot canopies, downlights and area luminaires for various new and existing travel centers. The program is underway, with retrofits completed at nearly 100 Pilot and Flying J Travel Centers to-date and plans to roll out dozens of new stores annually over the next five years.

Half of retailers are unprepared for future labor challenges.

That’s according to a new survey of more than 250 U.S. store managers by JDA Software Group, which finds that a perfect “labor” storm is brewing for retailers — one fueled by ever-expanding customer needs, increasing complexity and new and shifting labor regulations.

Do well by doing good. U.S. businesses are taking this adage attributed to Benjamin Franklin to heart.

It's good business. Happy employees are engaged employees, and that translates into productivity gains and ultimately to happy customers and a better bottom line.

Walgreens Boots Alliance on Tuesday announced an increase of 13.6% in net sales to $30.2 billion for the second quarter ended Feb. 29, 2016, compared with the same quarter a year ago, largely due to the full consolidation of Alliance Boots for the entire quarter this year. Foreign currency translation adversely impacted sales by approximately $750 million or 2.4%.

Fred's Inc. has appointed Rick Hans as executive VP and CFO. He fills the position left open when Jerry A. Shore, Fred's former finance head, was promoted to CEO in October 2014.

Prior to joining Fred's, Hans enjoyed a 27-year career with Walgreens, where he most recently served as VP of investor relations and finance. Hans previously held the position of director of finance and assistant treasurer, where he promoted a sound capital structure that subsequently provided the basis for major strategic acquisitions.

Staples is looking to connect with a key customer segment and improve the productivity of its selling space with a new pilot program involving shared workspace provider Workbar.

The Kroger Co. is making a “meaningful” investment in specialty natural/organic grocery chain Lucky’s Market that could expand the supermarket giant’s product assortment.

Kroger did not disclose the size of its stake in Lucky’s, which is based in Boulder, Colorado, and operates 17 stores in 13 states throughout the Midwest and Southeast U.S. Lucky’s stores average 30,000-sq.-ft. and are laid out to resemble an indoor farmers market, and also offer an assortment of prepared foods.

No, Trader Joe’s is not closing, and GrubHub is not launching a new ride share service called “Gruber.”

These are just two of the many fake news announcements circulating this April 1, a day traditionally dedicated to pranks and jokes. The retail-related April Fools hoax that by far has gotten the most attention, a false report that organic grocer Trader Joe’s would shutter all stores and discontinue all branded products by 2017, was actually released March 31.

March was a solid month for U.S. job makers, with retailers leading the way.

The retail industry — excluding autos, gasoline and food services — added a solid 40,000 jobs in March, the National Retail Federation reported on Friday. The job market overall saw growth of 215,000 jobs in the month of March.

Retail has added an average of 52,000 jobs per month over the last three months.