Large Chains

Minneapolis – Net earnings at Supervalu Inc. fell 14% to $36 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014 from $42 million in the identical period a year earlier. Higher selling and administrative expenses, including store closure and benefit costs, helped reduce profits.

Hy-Vee is joining the legion of grocery chains with online ordering, delivery and store pickup.

According to KCCI-TV in Des Moines, Iowa, the regional supermarket is rolling out a service called Aisles Online in select stores.

The news site quotes Hy-Vee as saying that the average order has about 30 items and takes a worker about a half-hour to compile. The items are scanned, loaded up and delivered. Or customers can pick them up at the store. Delivery costs $4.95 per order, and pick-up costs $2.95 per order, with the charges dropped for orders of $100 or more.

Cost-conscious consumers are continuing to seek out bargains at Supervalu's stores, prompting the company's profit to soar 50% in the fourth quarter.

Cincinnati -- Kroger said Monday that it has ended a 12-year joint venture with British consumer data company Dunnhumby and launched its own customer data subsidiary.
 
The new subsidiary will help Kroger set prices in stores and decide which shoppers get certain coupons.  The ending of the joint venture comes after Dunnhumby's parent company, Tesco PLC, said it was seeking strategic options for Dunnhumby.

New York -- The National Association of Chain Drug Stores announced during its Annual Meeting, the election of new officers, four new executive committee members and five new board of directors member for the coming year.
 
Randy Edeker, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Hy-Vee will serve as the new NACDS chairman of the board of directors. Edeker succeeds John Standley, chairman and chief executive officer of Rite Aid.
 

Sunbury, Pa. — Weis Markets has promoted Brent Mertes to regional VP where he will oversee the day-to-day operations of 51 stores located in South Central Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia.

He will report to David Gose, senior VP, operations.

Two big grocery chain executives will be overseeing the board of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores.

Meijer has partnered with Scotts-MiracleGro to create an unprecedented lawn and garden section in its stores, just in time for the spring gardening season. 

Meijer is the first supercenter to partner with the national lawn care and garden brand to create a Garden Marketplace inside 27 Meijer stores across the Midwest as peak gardening season begins.

The old expression, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime,” was taken to heart at Whole Foods where a recent fundraising campaign will provide loans to help people improve their lot in life.

Whole Food held concerts and craft fairs and thousands of small events that raised $4.6 million with the goal of alleviating global poverty. To achieve such a lofty mission, the retailer isn’t donating money to food banks to provide hand outs, but rather using the dollars to fund a microlending campaign.

Montreal – Canadian grocery retailer Metro Inc. is interested in purchasing some of the 133 Canadian stores Target Corp. finished closing earlier this month. In an April 22 conference call with investors, Metro said the possibility exists that it will try to purchase certain former Target stores.

"There are a few of those stores that could be of interest to us down the road if they become available," Eric La Fleche, CEO of Metro, said during the call.