Supermarket/Grocery

Cincinnati — The Kroger Co. has been named Employer of the Year by the Marriott Foundation for People with Disabilities. The Marriott Foundation for People with Disabilities fosters the employment of young people with disabilities.

Beachwood, Ohio — DDR Corp. and an affiliate of Blackstone Real Estate Partners VII have announced the formation of a third joint venture to acquire 76 shopping centers currently owned by American Realty Capital Properties, Inc.

The joint venture will acquire the portfolio in a transaction valued at $1.975 billion, including assumed debt of $461 million and approximately $800 million of new financings.  

Louisville, Ky. — Papa John’s International Inc. has appointed Laurette Koellner to the company’s board of directors. Koellner most recently served as executive chairman of International Lease Finance Corporation, a subsidiary of American International Group Inc. (“AIG”) from June 2012 until May 2014.

Atlanta — Consumer spending in the United States grew 4.2% year-over-year in May 2014, compared to April’s 4.1% year-over-year growth. According to Spend Trend analysis from First Data Corp., spending growth was driven by May’s warm weather, which specifically spurred spending on travel and home improvement.

Hilo, Hawaii — KTA Super Stores, a six-store supermarket chain serving the main island of Hawaii, has finalized upgrading Symphony EYC G.O.L.D. to the latest software version. The new capabilities including direct store delivery (DSD) and invoice reconciliation are the first step in KTA’s incorporation of the latest enhanced version of Symphony EYC’s merchandise management system, which is planned to be implemented across all of its island stores.  

Consumer spending in May increased 4.2%, according to the latest SpendTrend report from First Data Corporation, with the retail sector enjoying renewed vigor.

First Data’s SpendTrend tracks same-store point-of-sale data by credit, signature debit, PIN debit, EBT, closed-loop prepaid cards and checks from nearly four million merchant locations serviced by First Data. The spending increase of 4.2%, compared to 4.1% in April.

Montano Lucino, Italy — Italian hypermarket retailer Bennet has completed the rollout of electronic article surveillance (EAS) loss prevention solutions in its stores in Italy. The solution involves the installation of 1,000 P20 EAS antennas from Checkpoint’s Evolve solutions, as well as radio frequency (RF) tags, Alpha high-theft solutions and point-of-sale deactivators, in addition to the rollout of an RF source-tagging program aimed at increasing on-shelf availability, improving open merchandising while reducing labor costs and inventory shrink.

New York — Joel Anderson, president and chief executive officer of Walmart.com., has left  the online giant to assume the role of president at Five Below, which targets pre-teens and teens with trendy, extreme-value merchandise priced at $5 and below. Walmart has appointed Fernando Madeira, CEO of Walmart.com's Latin America unit, as the new head of Walmart.com. He will relocate from Sao Paulo, Brazil, to San Bruno, California, where Wal-Mart’s global e-commerce operation is based.