Supermarket/Grocery

Stater Bros. continues to grow its footprint in Southern California.   The San Bernardino, California-based company announced that the Ralphs Supermarket in Riverside (California) will be converted to a “Blue Ribbon” Stater Bros. supermarket. (Stater’s “Blue Ribbon” units are energy efficient and environmentally friendly.)   At 46,000-sq.-ft., the Riverside store will undergo an extensive remodel, and reopen under the Stater banner in spring 2017.  

First the good news: Retail sales rose 0.6% in September, after falling a revised 0.2% in August, according to figures by the Commerce Department.     The increase, the most in three months, was helped by a rebound of automobile and restaurant sales.    On the less positive front, excluding autos and gasoline, sales were up only 0.1%, less than economics predicted.    

Neil Saunders, CEO of Conlumino, a New York-based retail research agency and consulting firm, offers the following insights on September sales results.  

Save-A-Lot may be facing a possible spin-off from parent company Supervalu, but the chain is still bullish about its future.    Supervalu is expected to announce the fate of its discount grocery banner next week, the St. Louis Post Dispatch reported, with Toronto private equity firm Onex Corp. the leading bidder if Supervalu does pursue a sale. 

There is no fancy packaging to be seen on the shelves of Bulk Nation.    The Tampa-based grocer sells mostly unpackaged food, ranging from grains and pasta to spices and beans, all sold by weight, the Orlando Sentinel reported.  

JLL Income Property Trust has purchased the Kierland Village Center in Scottsdale, Arizona, for $34.5 million. Kierland Village is an upscale development in the Phoenix suburb, which has seen a near 10% rise in population since 2000.   The 118,000-sq.-ft. neighborhood center is anchored by Safeway and houses Walgreens, Einstein Brothers, Pizza Hut, Panda Express, and a UPS Store.   The acquisition is in line with JLL’s current appetite for active, necessity-based centers.  

Weis Markets has appointed R. Gregory Zeh, Jr. as VP/CIO of the company.    Zeh will oversee Weis’ day-to-day information technology functions, working in support of marketing and merchandising, supply chain and in-store management retail applications.   

By the holidays, customers of J Sainsbury Plc will be able to take advantage of more mobile capabilities.   Leveraging its acquisition of the Home Retail Group, which closed last month, Sainsbury will begin adding Argos branches or click-and-collect distribution points inside almost all of its stores, according to a recent Bloomberg article.