Supermarket/Grocery

New York City -- Wall Street analysts expect retailers to report a healthy end to the holiday season, fueled by discounts, improved consumer sentiment and such tactics as extended hours and layaways, Reuters reported.

Twenty-two major chains, from Macy's Inc. to Costco Wholesale Corp, are likely to post an aggregate 4.3% increase in December same-store sales according to Thomson Reuters.

New York City – Due to the holiday rush, Chain Store Age has extended the deadline for its 30th annual Retail Store of the Year Design Competition. Deadline submission is Tuesday, January 3, 2012.

Eligible projects are those completed between November 2010 and December 2011. Chain Store Age invites design firms, retailers architects, and suppliers to submit entries,

Twenty-one competition categories are featured, ranging from supermarkets and discount/mass merchants to specialty stores and pop-up stores.

Washington, D.C. -- The Conference Board report, released Tuesday, found that confidence among consumers rose to an eight-month high in December, increasing to 64.5 from a revised 55.2 reading in November.

The index reading exceeded all estimates in a Bloomberg News survey and was the highest since April.

Paris -- A Tuesday report by the Wall Street Journal said that French retailer Carrefour SA has sold 97 supermarket sites to an investment company for $477 million.

Carrefour, the world’s second-largest retailer after Wal-Mart Stores, will continue to operate the sites through 12-year leases under its Carrefour Markets banner. The company said the sales and lease-backs will allow it to optimize the use of its capital, which will be reinvested into other real estate.

There were no new surprises during November regarding prices at Walmart, but then that is to be expected. The everyday low price strategy to which Walmart has a newfound adherence is boring and that’s the way the company and presumably its customers like it.

Increasing shopper traffic in stores was a challenge for Walmart throughout 2011, but it was a different story online. The retailer surged to number 18 on the November ranking of the top 50 U.S. Internet properties compiled by online measurement firm comScore.

Walmart.com registered 58.5 million unique visitors in November, a big lift sequentially from October when it had 45.2 million visitors and, more impressively, well above November 2010 when comScore showed Walmart.com with 51.8 million visitors.

Sustainability and energy conservation are built into the DNA of Market of Choice, a regional natural and organic grocery store operator based in Eugene, Ore. The family-owned chain employs energy-saving air curtains, sells power generated from its own 130.0 kW solar photovoltaic rooftop system and composts its own food wastes. And it is in the middle of an energy-saving lighting retrofit. Here are the details on the major elements of the company’s energy-saving efforts:

PLEASANTON, Calif. — Safeway, in a release issued Wednesday, thanked its customers and employees for their generosity for donating food and toys to a number of Safeway Foundation charities this holiday season.