Supermarket/Grocery

Chicago -- Supermarket retailer Giant Eagle said Thursday it has completed a rollout of Galleria's Promotional Display Optimization solution that allows the grocer to generate thousands of store-specific display plans on a daily basis.

"We were already developing end-cap planograms, but Galleria enabled us to complete the process more efficiently," said Dan Schnorr, senior director of retail space planning, Giant Eagle.  

Boston -- The Wilder Cos. announced the addition of Jo-Ann Fabric & Crafts at two of its New Hampshire shopping centers.

Jo-Ann Fabric and Crafts recently opened at Belknap Mall, the only enclosed shopping mall north of Concord. The new store joins Peebles Department Store, Shaw’s, Maurices, Lakes Region Jewelers, CVS and Dunkin Donuts at the 218,500-sq.-ft. mall.

LONDON — The break-even forecast for the U.S. division of Tesco has been pushed back to early next year, the U.K. retail giant announced in its fiscal-year results.

New York -- Tesco Plc will invest 1 billion pounds ($1.6 billion) to help turnaround its domestic operations. The chain will slow its international expansion as its concentrates on its home base.

Tesco, the United Kingdom’s largest retailer, will give a makeover to about 430 of its U.K. supermarkets, add more workers and expand its online offerings.

Target and other retailers have fought unsuccessfully for years to level the e-commerce playing field in the United States by requiring Amazon.com and other online-only merchants to collect sales tax. Doing so would eliminate the Internet-pure-play retailers’ most significant competitive advantage, and for a glimpse of just how significant look no further than Canada.

Solid-state lighting took center stage at the SPECS Sustainability session, “LEDs: Perception and Reality.”

Speaker Leigh Savage, national accounts manager, GE Lighting, debunked many of the myths that surround LED lighting. They included:

• LEDs produce no heat at all. FALSE

• LEDs are more efficient than any other light source. NOT NECESSARILY.

• LEDs are still too expensive to use in retail applications. FALSE

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — Supervalu is moving ahead with its sustainability efforts by increasing the number of stores that will divert 90% or more of their waste from local landfills by the end of the current fiscal year.

Energy efficiency is one of the key benefits of using LED lighting. But there are plenty of other reasons to incorporate LEDs into retail stores, Sally Lee, applications marketing manager for Osram Sylvania, told attendees at the session, “Spotlight on LED: Getting the Dirt on Rare Earth Minerals.”