Large Chains

The timing of the Easter holiday this year adversely affected first-quarter sales at Publix by 1.3% — Easter fell in the second quarter this year, rather than the first quarter as if did last year — but the company still posted a 4.1% increase to $7.8 billion from last year’s $7.5 billion.

Comparable-store sales for the quarter increased 4%.

Fort Worth, Texas — Whole Foods Market has leased a 45,000-sq.-ft. location in Waterside, the new 63-acre master-planned, mixed-use property being developed by Trademark Property Co. Slated to open in the spring of 2016, it will be Whole Foods first grocery in Fort Worth.

Located on the Trinity River, Waterside will offer retail, restaurants, office, hotel and residential uses in a walk-able setting that will include a new extension of the Trinity Trail.

Dallas — LA Fitness has signed leases for four new spaces, two in Austin, Texas, and two in San Antonio, Texas. Venture Commercial Real Estate represented LA Fitness in each transaction.

In Austin, LA Fitness plans to begin construction immediately on a 40,000-sq.-ft. facility at 2020 Anderson Lane and a 46,200-sq.-ft. facility in the Lamar Oaks Shopping center on Lamar Boulevard. Retail Solutions and The Weitzman Group represented the landlords for the Anderson Lane and Lamar Boulevard locations, respectively.

Whole Foods Market made a $46,784 donation to Solid Ground, a Seattle-based organization with a mission to build a community to end poverty. Throughout 2013, shoppers who visited any of the six Seattle-area Whole Foods Market stores had an opportunity to participate in the Bag Hunger program, with a cash donation to Solid Ground at the checkout registers.

The National Association of Chain Drug Stores has elected new officers, one new executive committee member and three new board of directors members for the coming year during its annual meeting this weekend.

John Standley, chairman and CEO of Rite Aid, was elected as the new NACDS chairman of the board of directors. Standley succeeds Robert Narveson, president and CEO of Thrifty White Pharmacy. Additionally, Juan Ortiz, CEO Navarro Discount Pharmacies, was named vice chairman and Randall Edeker, chairman and CEO Hy-Vee, was elected treasurer.

Sunbury, Pa. – Weis Markets plans to invest $101 million in its growth program in 2014. That figure encompasses spending on 16 projects during 2014, including expansion of Weis’ 1.1-million-sq.-ft. distribution center in Milton, Pennsylvania.

Minneapolis -- Frank A. (Terry) Savage and Mathew M. Pendo have been elected to the Supervalu board of directors, effective April 24. Savage and Pendo were both appointed to the board as designees of Symphony Investors LLC, under the terms of a tender offer agreement entered into with Symphony Investors and Cerberus Capital Management in connection with Supervalu’s sale of five banners to an affiliate of Symphony Investors.

Top executives within Walmart’s international division have been assigned new responsibilities including a new role for the former head of Asian operations overseeing mergers and acquisitions.

Regional grocer Weis Markets is pressing forward with a $101 million capital expenditure program this year as it looks to restore top line growth at its Northeast operations.

The operator of 166 stores, 122 of which are located in Pennsylvania, confirmed a previously disclosed capital expenditure budget of $101 million would be used to fund 16 projects. Those projects consist of two new stores under construction in Selinsgrove and Enola, Pa., 13 remodels and expansion of a 1.1 million-sq.-ft. distribution center in Milton, Pa.

Pleasanton, Calif. – Safeway reported a net loss of $76.5 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2014, compared to net earnings of $118.9 million in the same period a year earlier. The company is working toward closing its $9.4 billion merger with Albertson’s by the fourth quarter of the current fiscal year.