Supermarket/Grocery

Walmart’s grocery pickup service is available to even more shoppers in the Golden State.   The discounter introduced grocery pickup in 26 stores across Inland Empire, Los Angeles and San Diego, bringing the total number of stores statewide offering the service to 36 locations, according to The Orange County Register. Each store will designate parking stalls for shoppers to retrieve their groceries.    

Kimco Realty has sold the Ambassador Plaza neighborhood center in Lafayette, Louisiana, to Westwood AC Properties for $5.3 million.   According to Transwestern VP Fred Victor, who brokered the deal for Kimco, the property benefits greatly from being shadow-anchored by an Albertson’s grocery store. Ambassador Plaza boasts a wide variety of dining options, including Subway, Little Caesars, and Fruiti Smoothie.  

The arrival of German discount grocer Lidl and Amazon's purchase of Whole Foods Markets have ratcheted up the already intense grocery wars and put new pressure on existing players, including Walmart. But one analyst thinks the discounter is well-positioned for the battle.  

Phillips Edison has acquired another grocery-anchored center, this on in Bakersfield, California.   Riverlakes Village is a 92,212-sq.-ft. neighborhood center anchored by Von’s Supermarket and augmented by a classic necessity-based mix of CVS, Verizon Wireless, Bank of America, Supercuts, Steak and Grape’s, and Chipotle.    The center is 97% leased, according to broker CBRE, which did not disclose the sale price.  

While the number of cyber-attacks have declined in the last year, a majority of companies still feel susceptible to data threats.   This was according to the “2017 Thales Data Threat Report, Retail Edition,” from Thales e-Security and analyst firm 451 Research. The study is based on responses from more than 1100 senior security executives, including in the retail segment, from across the globe.   

Florida's largest supermarket chain on Tuesday reported higher sales and revenues for its second quarter. Prior to releasing its results, the company cut the price of its stock.   Publix’s sales in the second quarter rose 3.6% to $8.4 billion, from last year’s $8.1 billion. Same-store sales increased 1.6%.      Net earnings increased 3.5% to $495.1 million, compared to $478.2 million in the year-ago period.    

A retail legend has passed.   Costco Wholesale Club announced "with great sadness" that co-founder and chairman Jeff Brotman died Tuesday morning. He was 74.   "The thoughts of Costco’s board, management and employees are with Jeff’s wife and family,” Costco said in a short statement.    Brotman co-founded Costco Wholesale with Jim Sinegal. The two opened the first Costco warehouse club location in 1983, in Seattle.

Food Lion is stepping up its digital engagement game.   A banner under Delhaize America, Food Lion launched a mobile app. Available to customers across its 10-state footprint, the app streamlines and personalizes the shopping experience.