Foodservice

H-E-B is planning to build a two-story grocery store in Bellaire, Texas, featuring the latest in food market retailing to open in the fall of 2017, Fox 7 reported Wednesday.

"We have enjoyed our Bellaire neighbors for the past 22 years and look forward to bringing them a store tailored to their needs filled with stellar features and products that will enhance their shopping experience for years to come," Scott McClelland, H-E-B Houston president, told Fox 7.

Persistence has paid off at Ingles Market for Jim Lanning who was elevated to the role of CEO after joining the $3.8 billion supermarket chain 41 years earlier.

Asheville, NC.-based Ingles Markets named Lanning, 56, to the role of CEO, filling a position previously held by company Chairman Robert P. Ingle, II. Lanning will retain his position as president while Ingle, 47, will continue to serve as chairman and continue his day-to-day active operational role in the executive leadership of the company, according to a statement.

The Kroger Co. has promoted one of its regional executives to be its new VP of retail operations.

The grocery chain said it has promoted Mary Ellen Adcock to serve as Kroger's group VP of retail operations, effective May 16. She succeeds Marnette Perry, whose retirement was previously announced. Adcock currently serves as VP of operations for Kroger's Columbus division.

Smart & Final’s value oriented brand of food retailing is resonating with shoppers and that has the company eyeing roughly 40 new stores in 2016.

Food Lion is making a major investment in store remodels.

The grocer announced it will remodel 142 stores in the greater Charlotte, N.C., market in 2016. Food Lion said it will invest $215 million in the stores, which includes remodeling, additional price investments throughout the year and investments in associates and the community through its Food Lion Feeds initiatives.

Perhaps no other retailer is profiting as well from Americans' changing eating habits than Sprouts Farmers Market, which reported record sales and earnings for the fourth quarter.

The Arizona-based grocer said that same store sales during the period ended Jan. 3 rose 7.4%. Net income was $28.2 million and diluted earnings per share were 18 cents. Net sales were $3.59 billion, a 21% increase compared to reported net sales in 2014. Adjusted diluted earnings per share of $0.86, a 19% increase from 2014.

Perhaps no other retailer is profiting as well from Americans' changing eating habits than Sprouts Farmers Market, which reported record sales and earnings for the fourth quarter.

The Arizona-based grocer said that same-store sales during the period ended Jan. 3 rose 7.4%. Net income was $28.2 million and diluted earnings per share were 18 cents. Net sales were $3.59 billion, a 21% increase compared to reported net sales in 2014. Adjusted diluted earnings per share of $0.86, a 19% increase from 2014.

Whole Foods Market’s knack for recycling and showcasing local memorabilia is reflected in its just-opened store in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin.

The 47,500-sq.-ft supermarket features a reclaimed bowling alley wood cladding at the juice bar. (Milwaukee is home to the oldest certified bowling alley in the United States.) A firefly motif is incorporated throughout the space, which was constructed by Chicago-based Novak Construction. (Wauwatosa is named after the Native-American Potawatomi tribe’s word for firefly.)

The Kroger Co.'s senior VP for retail operations and strategic initiatives plans to retire in April.

The company announced that Marnette Perry plans to retire on April 29, after 44 years with the company.

Popular Northeast grocer Stew Leonard's is planning to open a 70,000-sq.-ft. store in Long Island this year.

Construction on the new store will start this summer with an anticipated opening date of mid-2017, the company said. Earlier this month, Stew Leonard’s opened its first Long Island store in Farmingdale’s Airport Plaza on Route 110.

The family-owned and operated grocery chain was founded as a dairy store in 1969 in Norwalk, Conn.