Convenience Stores

Seattle -- Starbucks Corp. announced a series of management changes that it said it was undertaking to accelerate its innovation and growth. The changes come after Starbucks missed its global sales forecasts in April, mainly due to a downturn in Europe.

The company named Craig Russell, the senior VP U.S. Store Services, as senior VP of the Global Coffee division.

St. Louis -- Discount grocer Save-A-Lot, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Supervalu, opened its first store in Atlantic City, N.J., on May 17, becoming the first full-service grocery store within a 21-mile radius of the city.

Puyallup, Wash. -- Youngstown, Ohio-based Cafaro Co. said that Panera Bread will open a new bakery-café at its South Hill Mall property in Puyallup, Wash.

The new Panera Bread, slated to open this fall, will occupy a 4,300-sq.-ft. building recently vacated by Krispy Kreme.

The 1 million-sq.-ft. South Hill Mall is anchored by Target, Macy’s, J.C. Penney, Sears and Regal Cinemas, and features 120 specialty shops.
 

ST. LOUIS — Supervalu is bringing its Save-A-Lot banner to Atlantic City, N.J.

The store, which opened Thursday, will become the first full-service grocery store within a 21-mile radius of the city, the company said. The Atlantic City location is the 11th Save-A-Lot store in New Jersey.

MINNEAPOLIS — The president of Shoppers Food and Pharmacy will transition to a new role, parent company Supervalu announced Tuesday.

Austin, Texas -- Acumera announced today that Meridian, Idaho-based Jacksons Food Stores, Inc. has selected Acumera to build, monitor and manage a secure network, interconnecting the convenience store chain’s more than 200 retail locations with more than 1,900 store systems.

Using the Acumera Merchant Gateway, AcuVigil Dashboard and Machine-to-Cloud Integration Engine, Jacksons will experience enhanced information security, connectivity and visibility across the company’s enterprise.

New York -- Nash Finch has agreed to acquire the 18-store No Frills Supermarkets, which is based in Omaha, Neb.

The terms of the transaction, which is expected to be completed by the end of third quarter, were not immediately available.

In April, Nash Finch completed the acquisition of the 12-store Bag ’N Save supermarket chain.
 

NEW YORK — Kohl’s, Nordstrom and Target  ranked first in their categories in a new survey by Harris Interactive. The 2012 Harris Poll EquiTrend (EQ) study surveyed Americans about brands across several retail segments, revealing which brands prompted them to open their hearts—and consequently—their pocketbooks.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Sears Outlet stores will offer all past and present, uniformed service members 10% off anything in store on Armed Forces Day, May 19. All Active Duty, Reservist, National Guard, retirees and dependents from the Armed Forces (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard), Uniformed Law Enforcement and Fire/Rescue Personnel, are encouraged to visit one of the 120 Sears Outlet stores throughout the United States to redeem this exclusive offer.

As part of Chain Store Age’s lead-up coverage to RECon 2012, to be held May 20-23 in Las Vegas, we talked with customer analytics firm Buxton’s Charles Wetzel about what his expectations are for the big real estate show. Visit Buxton’s booth 701 in the North Hall Marketplace area of RECon.