Convenience Stores

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Fresh & Easy will kick off its annual in-store holiday food drive across all of its stores next month in honor of National Food Bank Week.

From mid-November trough Dec. 31, customers can donate canned and boxed goods in specially designated boxes at Fresh & Easy stores in Arizona, California and Nevada.

Last holiday season, the retailer and its customers donated more than $1 million in food to local food banks and charities.

Former Walmart president and CEO Lee Scott was a keynote speaker earlier this week at the National Beer Wholesalers Association’s 74th annual convention and trade show at Ceasar’s Palace in Las Vegas.

Promotional materials billed his appearance as an exciting opportunity to hear about the leadership, innovation and business strategies that led Walmart to be such a successful retailer and noted that Scott would also participate in a candid question and answer forum where distributors would have the opportunity to ask some tough questions.

NAPERVILLE, Ill. — Strong results in consumable categories, a little inflation and some Hurricane Irene related sales fueled an 11.5% same-store sales increase and led to a strong overall third-quarter financial performance at Tractor Supply Company.

Dollar stores get a lot of the credit for negatively impacting Walmart’s U.S. sales the past few years and it’s no wonder. The big three – Dollar General, Family Dollar and Dollar Tree – have grown rapidly and collectively operate more than 20,000 conveniently located units that offer sharp prices on an expanding assortment of food and consumables.

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS/pharmacy is holding on Oct. 23 its first annual "2011 Halloween Party and Customer Event" at all 7,200 locations nationwide.

Children who slip on a Halloween costume and purchase any item at any CVS/pharmacy location on Oct. 23 during regular store hours will receive one free Halloween gift pack per child, as well as an in-store costume photo shoot, which includes a free 5x7 print, during select times throughout the day.

The Halloween gift pack, available for free with any purchase while supplies last, includes:

PHILADELPHIA — Shoplifting, employee or supplier fraud, organized retail crime and administrative errors cost the retail industry $41.7 billion in the United States in 2011, representing 1.6% in sales, according to the Global Retail Theft Barometer released Tuesday by Checkpoint Systems. Of that, $18.4 billion was attributed to employee theft, $14.9 billion to shoplifters, $6.6 billion to internal error and $1.8 billion to suppliers.

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — Supervalu reduced it full-year profit forecast Wednesday morning, even though the company reported better-than-expected second-quarter sales and profits as a result of strategies president and CEO Craig Herkert said are yielding results.

NEW YORK — Wegmans Food Markets has opened its first location in Massachusetts, in the town of Northborough. The 138,000-sq.-ft. store, the largest supermarket in New England, has a warm, welcoming feel.