Supermarket/Grocery

MINNEAPOLIS — Another 90 Target stores are slated to receive fresh food in June as part of a major remodeling initiative that has become known simply as PFresh.

Minneapolis -- Target Corp. said it has initiated remodels to expand the fresh food offerings at 90 stores across the nation, with the work expected to be completed on June 24, 2012.

The June stores will be the second of three cycles of remodels for Target this year. Stores scheduled for the June remodel cycle span markets across the country, from Des Moines, Iowa, to El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio.

By the end of the year, more than 1,100 Target stores will offer the expanded fresh food layout.

NEW YORK — Wal-Mart Stores confirmed that it is investigating its operations in Mexico for possible violations of the U.S. law that prohibits bribery overseas. The acknowledgement came in response to a lengthy article by The New York Times on Saturday that alleged the giant discounter first learned of allegations of "widespread bribery" by its workers in the country in 2005 and that top executives subsequently covered them up. 

Landfill operators got some bad news this week when Walmart said it prevented 81% of waste generated by U.S. stores from going to landfills. That nugget is just one example of the progress Walmart has made on its broad sustainability agenda and was among numerous others contained in the company’s 5th annual Global Responsibility Report released this week.

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — Stater Bros. is making strides on the sustainability front, with six of its newest supermarkets earning the EPA GreenChill Gold Award for meeting tough environmental standards and using ozone friendly refrigerants. These GreenChill store certifications are valid for one year, and four of these Stater Bros. Supermarkets also received GreenChill Gold Awards in 2011.

SUNBURY, Pa. — Two Weis stores containing a new, environmentally efficient design have earned environmental certifications awards from the GreenChill Advanced Refrigeration Partnership, a voluntary Environmental Protection Agency alliance with food retailers to reduce refrigerant emissions and decrease their impact on the ozone layer and climate change, the grocer announced Wednesday.

CINCINNATI — Ahead of Earth Day, a number of retailers have been touting their sustainable efforts. The latest example is Kroger, which has released a video highlighting some of its accomplishments and showcasing some of its future goals.

The video features both store associates and customers who speak about how much Kroger has already done--from reducing waste and plastic bag use--and what the company can do more of--from making it easier to find organic products to donating more fresh produce to charity.

West Bridgewater, Mass. -- Five Shaw’s Supermarkets in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, have reached a major environmental milestone in the company’s “zero waste” program by diverting over 90% of all store waste from local landfills.

The environmental impact of the five stores has been significant:

Milwaukee -- The Milwaukee office of Opus Development Corp. announced that T.J Maxx, Ulta Salon, Rue 21 and Charming Charlie’s will be the first tenants in the second phase of its Shoppes at Fox River retail development in Waukesha, Wis.

IBM’s decision to sell its Retail Store Solutions (RSS) business to Toshiba TEC was the most significant announcement in the retail point-of-sale industry in the last 10 years, according to industry analyst Greg Buzek, president, IHL Group, Franklin, Tenn. The acquisition establishes a new company in which Toshiba will initially own 80.1% and IBM 19.9% for the next three years to aid transition and after which time IBM will relinquish its stake.