Large Chains

Carlisle, Pa. -- Ahold subsidiary Giant Food said it has commenced its conversion of 15 former Genuardi's stores. The announcement follows FTC approval of Giant Food’s plan to acquire 15 Genuardi's stores, located in the greater Philadelphia area, from Safeway.

During the conversion process, five stores at a time will temporarily close for about a week. The three-phase staggered approach is expected to be completed on July 22.

CARLISLE, Pa. — Giant Food has commenced its conversion of 15 former Genuardi's stores.

The announcement follows Giant Food, an Ahold subsidiary, getting the green light from the Federal Trade Commission for its plan to acquire 15 Genuardi's stores, located in the greater Philadelphia area, from Safeway.

During the conversion process, five stores at a time will temporarily close for about a week. The three-phase staggered approach is expected to be completed on July 22.

New York -- U.K. retailing giant Tesco PLC could give up its American supermarket venture, Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, if the chain continues to disappoint and not make a profit, RetailWeek and other British news organizations reported.

In remarks at the company’s annual meeting on Friday, Tesco CEO Philip Clarke said: “If we see there is no chance of success, we’ll do as we’ve just done in Japan,” referring to Tesco’s deal this month to exit that market.

Walmart’s Bodega Aurrera stores in Mexico and Lider stores in Chile are among the most valuable Brands in Latin American, according to an extensive new report by global communications giant WPP.

New York -- Brookshire Brothers has launched a facility-wide lighting update, including in-store, parking lot, exterior signage and refrigerated case fixtures.

Using a combination of new linear fluorescent lighting and LED technologies -- from GE Lighting, East Cleveland, Ohio -- Brookshire will, once all of its stores have been completed, reduce its annual operating costs more than $235,000.

Walmart's Asda business earned the title of "Lowest Priced Supermarket" at The Grocer Gold Awards for the 15th straight year. The retailer was also named "Britain’s Favorite Supermarket" for the second year in a row.

New Rochelle, N.Y. -- X Team partner Welco Realty said that Fairway Supermarket has opened a new store at Plaza 46 shopping center, in Woodland Park, N.J.

The 63,000-sq.-ft. store is the chain’s 10th store, all located in the northeastern United States.
 

Issaquah, Wash. -- Costco Wholesale Corp.’s international executive VP James Murphy said Thursday that the warehouse club operator is pursuing a European expansion program.

Murphy told Bloomberg that Costco is “interested in investing in the obvious four -- Germany, Italy, France and Spain.” The company hasn’t decided which country would debut first and will probably open a store in the region “in the next couple of years,” Murphy said in the Bloomberg interview.

NEW YORK and MONTVALE, N.J. — Grocer A&P has inked an exclusive partnership with BrightFarms, becoming the only retailer of BrightFarms’ Brooklyn-grown produce from the world’s largest rooftop farm.

MINNEAPOLIS — Supervalu's Essential Everyday private-label line will include 2,700 products across more than 100 categories by 2013.

Essential Everyday products, which are available at approximately 3,300 stores nationwide — including Supervalu's family of stores — currently features more than 1,200 items across more than 40 categories. The expanded Essential Everyday brand lineup was introduced in New York last week by chef and cookbook author Antonia Lofaso.