Supermarket/Grocery

Deerfield, Ill. -- First Lady Michelle Obama on Tuesday toured a Walgreens store on Chicago’s South Side to view the company’s efforts to fight the childhood obesity epidemic and provide better food options and accessible health care to under-served communities.

The event was part of a mayoral summit hosted by the First Lady’s Let’s Move! initiative and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

AUSTIN, Texas — Whole Foods announced that in just six weeks, its shoppers donated more than $2 million in stores and online to support the School Garden Grant Program, the first major initiative of the Whole Kids Foundation. In partnership with FoodCorps, the Foundation will fund $2,000 grants for schools in the United States and Canada to support the launch or expansion of school gardens.

QUINCY, Mass. — Stop & Shop announced that it has expanded the availability of its SCAN IT! Mobile shopping app. 

First introduced last June for iPhone 3GS and 4G in three stores, SCAN IT! Mobile is now also available for many Android devices which will double the reach of customers, the company said. In addition, the pilot will expand to an additional 42 Stop & Shop stores in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.

CHICAGO — At an event Tuesday in Chicago, Supervalu announced that it will open a Save-A-Lot store in the Lawndale neighborhood of Chicago, bringing thae total number of Save-A-Lot stores in the Chicagoland area to 14. Supervalu, which said it is opening the store as part of its commitment to helping eliminate food deserts nationally, made the announcement alongside First Lady Michelle Obama and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. The Lawndale store will open by the end of November. 

Issaquah, Wash. — Costco Wholesale's donations to a Washington state voter initiative that would legalize liquor sales by private retailers have broken state records, according to published reports.

Quincy, Mass. -- The Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. said Tuesday it has expanded the availability of Scan It! Mobile – a grocery app that allows customers to use their personal mobile device to scan, tally and bag their groceries while they shop.

First introduced last June for iPhone 3GS and 4G in three stores, Scan It! Mobile is now also available for many Android devices which will double the reach of customers. In addition, the pilot will expand to an additional 42 Stop & Shop stores in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut.

WASHINGTON — The Grocery Manufacturers Association has highlighted the U.S. food and beverage industry's accomplishments on Food Day, which celebrates the more than 15 million Americans who work to provide billions of consumers with safe, healthy, convenient and affordable food.

STRONGSVILLE, Ohio — The IBM Retail User Group announced that it has named Ron Ferri of Giant Eagle as its new president at its recent board of directors and 35th Annual Conference planning meeting in Las Vegas, Oct. 13 to 15. 

More Americans were online in September, and traffic to such major retail sites as Amazon.com and Walmart.com increased, but Target.com traffic was flat in the first full month following a late August site relaunch, according to the most recent “Top 50 Web Properties” report from online measurement firm comScore.

Strongsville, Ohio -- The IBM Retail User Group has named Giant Eagle veteran Ron Ferri as its new president. The announcement was named at the group’s recent board of directors and 35th Annual Conference planning meeting in Las Vegas.

Ferri, a business process consultant with the supermarket chain, has participated in the IBM Retail Users Group for 12 years.