Supermarket/Grocery

Albertsons Companies has added two key hires to help it expand its digital capabilities.   

A current retail CEO and a former one found themselves at odds on Tuesday at a Capitol Hill hearing on the proposed border adjustment tax.    “Under the new border adjustment tax, American families – your constituents – would pay more so many multinational corporations can pay even less,” said Target CEO Brian Cornell. “Eighty-five percent of Americans shop at Target every year. We believe this new tax would hit those families hard, raising prices on everyday essentials by up to 20%.”

Despite increasing loyalty program membership enrollments, retailers continue to miss opportunities to satisfy shoppers.   Brands continue to invest more in loyalty programs, and enrollment has grown by 31% over the last four years. However, retailers are overlooking opportunities that will drive business results, according to “The Loyalty Report 2017.”  

Online retailing is changing the game for pet parents.   Specifically, 40% of pet owners are opting to buy pet products online, up from 37% the previous year, and notably higher than results from 2014, according to U.S. Pet Market Outlook, 2017-2018. The report, from research firm Packaged Facts, highlights mergers and acquisitions, retail channel trends, and pet owner demographics and spending habits.  

Donahue Schriber announced the next phase of Del Mar Highlands Town Center at RECon this week. The 120,000-sq.-ft. addition of GLA will bring the total square footage at the San Diego property close to 400,000.   Called The Collection, the new phase will be anchored by local natural foods grocer Jimbos…Naturally! The company’s leasing strategy for the remainder of the space will focus on retail, dining, and services catering to the area’s highly educated, affluent, and time-constrained consumers.   

Walmart will be making big changes to a lot of stores this year, according to a report from MLive.com. Among the roughly 400-640 stores that will get a remodel this year are 12 Michigan locations, the report said.

MLive notes that among the changes coming to stores undergoing a remodel will be a lounge-like area for in-store pickup, the locations of which will move to the front of the store, more fresh and organic offerings, wider aisles and changed sightlines. Three markets in Michigan also will see the piloting of online grocery ordering for in-store pickup, the report said.

National Realty & Development Corp. has been in business for some 50 years, and privately held for all that time. It is one of the Northeast’s premier retail owners and developers, with a portfolio of 78 centers. But a ground-up development in Middletown, New Jersey, has served to crystallize what brick-and-mortar retail is all about for longtime president John Orrico.  

Deborah Butler grew up in a college town. More importantly, she watched her family grow one store into a mega-retail-complex in Gainesville, Florida, that keeps on growing. The University of Florida has been very, very good to Butler and her family, and Butler has lots to say about the symbiotic relationship of higher education and retail.