Large Chains

West Bridgewater, Mass. -- Shaw’s plans to close six of its 34 stores in New Hampshire by Sept. 2, the Associated Press said.

KATY, Texas — CBRE’s National Retail Investment Group has closed on the sale of Highland Knolls Shopping Center in Katy, Texas, to Revesco Properties. The 87,469-sq.-ft. grocery-anchored shopping center is 94.6% occupied.

New York – The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Co. (A&P), which exited bankruptcy last year, is reportedly looking to sell itself. A report in the Wall Street Journal indicates that an internally distributed company memo from A&P chairman Gregory Mays to store managers states a sale of A&P is one of several options for funding growth, along with raising capital and refinancing.

Eden Prairie, Minn. -- Supervalu has named Bruce Besanko as the company’s executive VP and CFO, effective Aug. 7. Besanko joins Supervalu after serving as executive VP of finance, CFO and CAO for OfficeMax since 2009.

Brampton, Ontario -- Loblaw Companies Limited reported higher earnings and revenue in the second quarter of fiscal 2013 as compared to the same period in fiscal 2012. Lolbaw’s net earnings for the quarter totaled USD $173.2 million, up 14% from $151.8 million.

The retailer reported revenues of $7.31 billion, a 2% increase from $7.18 billion a year earlier. Same-store sales improved 1.1%.

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — Supervalu has appointed former OfficeMax executive Bruce Besanko as its EVP and CFO, effective August 7.

Besanko served as EVP of finance, CFO and chief administrative officer for OfficeMax, and is credited with strengthening the company’s balance sheet and transforming business-to-business and retail segments for one of the leading global office supply companies following his appointment in 2009.

Loblaw Companies Limited — which recently announced its plans to <a href="http://loblaw/ investments bolster its Q2 Loblaw Companies Limited, which announced its plans to acquire Shoppers Drug Mart for C$12.4 billion in cash and stock, reported higher earnings and revenue in the second quarter of fiscal 2013 as compared to the same period in fiscal 2012. Lolbaw’s net earnings for the quarter totaled USD $173.2 million, up 14% from $151.8 million. The retailer reported revenues of $7.31 billion, a 2% increase from $7.18 billion a year earlier. Same-store sales improved 1.1%.

Grand Rapids, Mich. -- Spartan Stores and Nash Finch Company on Monday announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Spartan Stores and Nash Finch will combine in an all-stock merger valued at approximately $1.3 billion, including existing net debt at each company.

Nash Finch, which had revenues of about $4.8 billion last year, will become a subsidiary of Spartan Stores, which had revenues of $2.6 billion.

Pleasanton, Calif. – Safeway reported a substantial decline in net income for the second quarter of fiscal 2013 as well as a drop in sales. Adjusted net income for the quarter was $8.4 million, compared to $122.7 million in the same quarter a year earlier. However, after adjusting for various legal expenses and loss from discontinued operations, net income for the quarter would have been $125.1 million.

MINNEAPOLIS — Supervalu reported net sales of $5.2 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2014, down 1.5%, and net earnings of $85 million, or $0.34 per diluted share. 

The decrease in net sales primarily reflects a decline in identical store sales of negative 3% percent for retail food and negative 1.9% for Save-A-Lot. Identical store sales for corporately operated stores within the Save-A-Lot network were negative 1.2%.