Supermarket/Grocery

Washington, D.C. — Pret A Manger has leased a two-story retail building on Capital Hill in Washington, D.C., according to Douglas Development, the building’s owner. Located just two blocks from the U.S. Capitol Building, the restaurant will occupy 4,300-sq. ft. and offer two floors of indoor dining as well as a large outdoor patio.

Originally from London, Pret A Manger opened its first U.S. location in 2000 near the New York Stock Exchange. Today, there are over 300 Pret A Manger locations worldwide.

Camp Hill, Pa. -- Rite Aid Corp. saw same-store sales edge up 1.1% in August, hurt by a 1.7% front-end same-store sales drop. Pharmacy comps rose 2.5%.

For the quarter, total sales edged up 0.7% to $6.25 billion, and same-store sales rose 1%.

Cincinnati — Phillips Edison—ARC Shopping Center REIT Inc. has announced the acquisition of Yorktown Centre, a 196,728-sq.-ft. shopping center in Erie, Pa. Anchored by a Giant Eagle grocery store, Yorktown Centre is 100 percent occupied.

Pleasanton, Calif. -- Safeway, Inc. has reached a $600,000 settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of Justice (DOJ) in regard to violations of the Clean Air Act. The government alleges that Safeway neglected to repair leaks of heat-trapping gas HCFC-22 from its refrigerators in a timely manner or keep proper records of refrigerator maintenance.

New York -- Drugstore operator Duane Reade in late August passed an important milestone: It surpassed 1 million Twitter followers. The drugstore chain, which is owned by Walgreens, is most-followed retailer on Twitter in the food, drug and mass arena.

Duane Reade has garnered five times more Twitter followers than its parent company Walgreens (180,390 followers), the second-most followed drug store retailer. CVS/pharmacy, No. 3, is followed by 117,931 Twitter followers.

Retailers were already leery about the outlook for consumer spending this holiday season and reports Wednesday of record auto sales in August only add to the concern.

Both Walmart and Target reported disappointing second quarter sales and tempered their outlook for the full year. Conversely, car salespeople across the country were clinking champagne glasses and cashing commission checks as their employers, everyone from Mazda to Honda to Porsche and Ford, said August was a record month.

BRUSSELS, Belgium — Belgian international food retailer Delhaize Group announced that Roland Smith, CEO of Delhaize America, and Pierre-Olivier Beckers, CEO of Delhaize Group, are leaving the company.

Dallas -- Corner Bakery Cafe continues to expand as it moves forward on its goal to more than double its U.S. footprint in the next three to four years. The company announced plans to expand in several areas, including Northeast Florida, Tampa, and San Diego.

Corner Bakery Cafe said it will open as many as ten new restaurants in Northeast Florida as part of a new multi-unit restaurant franchise agreement with Lee-Wesley Group. These will be the first Corner Bakery Cafes in the Northeast Florida area.