Convenience Stores

CHICAGO — Just two months after Groupon launched its free Breadcrumb iPad point-of-sale app, the company has announced major additions aimed to provide local businesses with a pre-built, customizable experience adapted to their specific industry. 

Breadcrumb POS how offers features for a broad range of merchants, including the ability to use pre-loaded menus and inventory lists, process offline transactions, scan and redeem Groupon vouchers, track deal performance and add custom item modifiers. 

Boulder, Colo. -- Trader Joe’s is North America’s favorite grocery store based on customer satisfaction, according to a new study of 6,600 consumers conducted by Market Force Information. Publix Super Markets and Whole Foods Market rounded out the top three. All three received high marks for courteous staff, inviting atmosphere and high-quality produce. Hy-Vee also scored well on those measures.

Seattle -- Starbucks Coffee Company is entering the yogurt business. The company announced it has entered into a strategic agreement with the makers of Dannon to offer a jointly created and developed selection of specialty yogurt products in participating Starbucks stores and in grocery channels.

Ann Arbor, Mich. – Domino’s Pizza, Inc. delivered strong results in net income, revenues and same-store sales during second quarter 2013. Net income totaled $33.3 million, up 18.5% from $28.1 million the same quarter a year earlier. Total revenues were about $414.1 million, up roughly 10% from $376.1 million a year earlier. Same-store sales rose 5.8% following an increase of 5.7% a year earlier, driven by 6.8% growth in domestic franchise stores.

Grand Rapids, Mich. -- Spartan Stores and Nash Finch Company on Monday announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Spartan Stores and Nash Finch will combine in an all-stock merger valued at approximately $1.3 billion, including existing net debt at each company.

Nash Finch, which had revenues of about $4.8 billion last year, will become a subsidiary of Spartan Stores, which had revenues of $2.6 billion.

Houston -- U.S. Hispanics are more likely to purchase grocery foods, dairy, and bread from convenience stores (c-stores) than non-Hispanics, reports the NPD Group, leading global information company. Spanish-dominant Hispanics are more likely to make grocery item purchases at c-stores than other Hispanics, according to the NPD report entitled The C-Store Hispanic Shopper, which examines the typical convenience store shopping behavior of Hispanics by level of acculturation and how it compares to non-Hispanics.
 

New York -- Supermarket operator Compare Foods announced that it begun the implementation of the Swift Shopper app created by ezCommerce Solutions. The app, designed for those retailers hesitant to invest in mobile point-of-sale, costs retailers nothing and doesn’t require any hardware, training or integration to implement. Customers download it to their phone/tablet for free (or upgrade for the low cost of $1.99) and it enables them to scan any barcode as they shop.  

It works in every store where cashiers have dual-line handheld scanners.

Pittsburgh -- GNC Holdings Inc. on Monday opens its first freestanding store in China. The store, located in the Raffles City complex in Shanghai, is the first of about 25 standalone stores GNC plans to open in China during the next 12 months.

PITTSBURGH — GNC is no stranger to China, with more than 60 store-within-a-store locations in eight different major grocery, convenience and health and wellness chains in China. But two years after entering the market, the retailer is opening its first stand-alone location in Shanghai.

GNC plans on opening an additional 25 locations in China within the next 12 months.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The competitive prospects of Spartan Stores and Nash Finch improved considerably on Monday when the two companies agreed to merge and create an enterprise with 177 stores, 22 distribution centers and annual sales of roughly $7.5 billion.