Convenience Stores

New Orleans -- Smoothie King Franchises is targeting the Jacksonville, Fla., metro area to kick off a major expansion calling for 1,000 new franchised and corporate locations over the next five years.

With seven stores in Jacksonville, the company plans to add 10 new locations there over the next three years.

To fuel the national expansion drive, Smoothie King is offering candidates 40% off of its initial franchise fee for the first 40 agreements of 2013 — a savings of $10,000.

CINCINNATI and MATTHEWS, N.C. — Kroger, already one of the world’s largest retailers, is about to get even larger. The company plans to purchase all outstanding shares of Harris Teeter Supermarkets for $49.38 per share in cash. 

The merger agreement not only allows Kroger to expand its brands portfolio but also allows it to expand its market with a complementary base of 212 stores, of which 147 have pharmacies, in Southeastern and mid-Atlantic markets and in Washington, D.C.

Schenectady, N.Y. -- Price Chopper Supermarkets said it has named Karlin Bohnert as senior VP of information systems/CIO.

Bohnert most recently served as CIO of RGIS in Auburn Hills, Mich. She joins Price Chopper with more 30 years of strategic IT experience gained at such companies as Walmart, Home Depot, ANF, The Limited and MCI.

West Bridgewater, Mass. -- Shaw’s and Star Market have ended their loyalty card program. The program offered shoppers sale prices on selected items.
 
In line with the decision to drop the loyalty card program, Shaw’s and Star Market announced they are lowering prices on thousands of items across all of its 169 locations.

By Nathan Needel, PRD International

For years, surveillance systems have recorded thefts and other incidences, including those at POS location, for future investigation. Now, video can be used to stop incidences as they happen. To do this, users need to quit thinking of surveillance systems as simply repositories of what’s been seen and recorded and, instead, think of cameras as sensors in a system. Why should you have to search through recordings to locate the incident when, if fact, they can stop it as it happens?

New York -- Belle Foods plans to close 13 stores by Aug. 3, including six in Alabama, according to a report by the Birmingham Business Journal. The shutters are part of a reorganization following the chain’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.

Of the 13 store closures, 12 are Food Worlds and one is a Piggly Wiggly.

BREA, Calif. — Health and natural products wholesale distributor Nature's Best has hired Amy Kirtland as the company’s VP of sales. Kirtland will be responsible for leading the company's sales team and executing the company's strategic growth plans.

CITY OF COMMERCE, Calif. — Extreme value retailer 99 Cents Only Stores is getting ready to help one of its customers celebrate her 99th birthday as only it can. 

At 7 a.m. Friday, July 19, Mildred "Millie" Fox of Murrieta, Calif., is going to receive a 99-second shopping spree experience and free birthday cake at her local store. It will be 99 Cents Only Stores’ very first 99th birthday celebration.

WASHINGTON — The National Retail Federation's president and CEO Matthew Shay and chief economist Jack Kleinhenz have issued a statement concerning June's employment numbers, released by the Department of Labor.

Oakbrook Terrace, Ill. -- Mid-America Real Estate Corp. has brokered the sale of Danada Square East, a 202,036-sq.-ft. grocery anchored shopping center in the Chicago suburb of Wheaton, Ill. Dominick’s anchors the center.

Newport Capital Fund I purchased the property for $31,625,000 from CBRE Global Investors.