Large Chains

Chicago — Transwestern’s Chicago office has brokered the sale of the 236,173-sq.-ft. Deer Grove Shopping Centre in Palatine, Ill., to Ramco Gershenson for $20 million. Transwestern www.transwestern.net represented the seller, C-III Asset Management.

The property is anchored by Dominick’s, a Chicago-based grocer, and national tenants including TJ Maxx/Home Goods, Petco and Staples. A Target and Home Depot shadow anchor the property.

Top executives from Walmart will be sharing insights into the company’s strategies this fall by participating in a wide range of conferences and investor event.
First up is Walmart U.S. president and CEO Bill Simon who is scheduled as the featured luncheon speaker on September 11, at the Goldman Sachs Global Retailing Conference in New York. Simon also spoke at the event in 2010 and 2012 and this year he will be fresh off of headlining Walmart’s U.S. manufacturing summit in Orlando in late August.

Walmart will be making a progressing move and extending health insurance benefits to same-sex domestic partners of its U.S. employees starting next year, according to a Reuters report. 

The report stated that the retailer will also offer vision care to its eligible employees and their dependents.

The Fresh Market is hungry for market share in the natural foods space and on the heels of solid second quarter growth said it was accelerating an already ambitious new store opening schedule.

The operator of 139 stores said sales for the second quarter ended July 28 increased 13.3% to $354.8 million and same store sales advanced 3.4%. Profits increased to $15.6 million, or 32 cents a share, compared to $13.3 million, or 28 cents a share the prior year.

In first U.S. application, H-E-B deploys energy-efficient, propane refrigeration system

H-E-B is thinking green — and out of the box — when it comes to refrigeration. The company is the first U.S. retailer to deploy a propane refrigeration system in its refrigerated display cases.

The Hussmann-designed system is in place in H-E-B’s new 83,000-sq.-ft. store in Austin, Texas, which is part of the redevelopment of an old airport site in the city’s Mueller neighborhood. The entire project is focused on sustainability and energy efficiency. So is H-E-B.

Provigo, a division of Canada’s Loblaw Cos., has opened the second location under its new Provigo Le Marché banner, a flagship in the Montreal suburb of Kirkland. The 82,000-sq.-ft. store combines the convenience and variety of a full-service supermarket with a food market-styled layout. It offers an expanded range of fresh products, and gives center stage to local and regional items.

Lakeland, Fla. -- Publix Super Markets on Friday announced it will enter the Winston-Salem market and add a third location in Mecklenburg

The Winston-Salem store will measure 49,000 sq. ft. and is slated to open in 2015. The Cornelius store, located in Mecklenburg County, will also encompass 49,000 sq. ft. and will feature a drive-thru pharmacy. Opening is planned for late 2014.

Publix continues to aggressively look for additional locations throughout the state of North Carolina, the grocer said.

ZAANDAM, Netherlands — Dutch supermarket-operating company Ahold has appointed Abbe Luersman as the company’s chief human resources officer.

Ahold said that Luersman, who will report to CEO Dick Boer, will assume the new position on Nov. 1. Ahold's U.S. division operates the Stop & Shop, Giant Food Stores of Carlisle, Pa., and Giant Food of Landover, Md., supermarket banners, as well as the Peapod online grocery service.

New York -- Fairway Group Holdings Corp., parent company of Fairway Market, is the first supermarket in New York City to install technology to help customers who are deaf place their shopping orders.

The company said it has installed a hearing loop at its Broadway store's deli counter which works with an individual's telecoil-equipped hearing instrument or cochlear implant.

Lubbock, Texas -- As part of a strategic branding initiative, United Supermarkets, LLC will now be known as The United Family, reflecting its multiple store brands as well as its rich family history.
 
The strategic name change is part of a branding initiative to help define, articulate and document the organization’s retail portfolio, which consists of four brands: United Supermarkets, Market Street, Amigos and United Express, along with its subsidiary operations, R.C. Taylor Distributing, Praters and Llano Logistics.