Supermarket/Grocery

Cheshunt, U.K. – Philip Clarke, CEO of leading U.K. grocery and general merchandise retailer Tesco plc is publicly resisting calls for his resignation following a 6% decline in annual profits and 3% quarterly drop in U.K. same-store sales. Tesco has reported falling profits for two consecutive years following 20 years of continual profit growth.

Lakewood, Colo. – Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage Inc. has opened a store in Logan, Utah. The Logan store is its second Utah location.

"We are thrilled to expand our nutrition expertise and delicious food options to Logan," said Kemper Isely, co-president of Natural Grocers. "We look forward to engaging with the local community about healthy living."

Jewel-Osco has named Scott Hays as VP operations for the Chicagoland grocery store.

Most recently a district manager with Albertsons LLC’s Southern division, Hays will lead the operations team to support Jewel-Osco’s marketing and merchandising initiatives, including the company’s upcoming remodels and opening their five newly acquired Dominick’s locations.

Itasca, Ill. -- Jewel-Osco has appointed Scott Hays as VP operations for the Chicagoland supermarket chain.

Most recently a district manager with Albertsons LLC’s Southern division, Hays will lead the operations team to support Jewel-Osco’s marketing and merchandising initiatives, including the company’s upcoming remodels and opening their five newly acquired Dominick’s locations.

Pleasanton, Calif. - Safeway Inc. has completed the distribution to its stockholders of 37.8 million shares of Class B common stock of Blackhawk Networks Holdings Inc. owned by Safeway. After the completion of the distribution, Safeway no longer owns any shares of Class B common stock of Blackhawk.

Retailers on the lookout for new products will find an innovative item from Welch’s gives shoppers a whole new way to PB&J and extends the Welch’s brand deeper into the snack category.

Atlanta -- Pricer, which provides electronic shelf label solutions, has announced that Carrefour, the world’s second largest retailer, will use Pricer’s latest retail technology for a fully connected store that significantly improves the customer experience.

Carrefour’s store in Villeneuve la Garenne is the first store worldwide that allows customers to benefit from Pricer’s integrated solution using indoor navigation, mobile shopping and SmartTAG graphic labels.

St. Louis – Save-A-Lot will open a new 140,000-sq.-ft. food distribution center in Aurora, Colo., in June 2014. Save-A-Lot currently services its stores in this market out of the company’s distribution center located in Dallas.