Supermarket/Grocery

BREA, Calif. — Health and natural products wholesale distributor Nature's Best has hired Amy Kirtland as the company’s VP of sales. Kirtland will be responsible for leading the company's sales team and executing the company's strategic growth plans.

New York -- Belle Foods plans to close 13 stores by Aug. 3, including six in Alabama, according to a report by the Birmingham Business Journal. The shutters are part of a reorganization following the chain’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.

Of the 13 store closures, 12 are Food Worlds and one is a Piggly Wiggly.

DENVER — Junction Solutions, a leading provider of hosted and cloud-based software and services for the multichannel retail and food and beverage sectors, has appointed John Bonati as SVP of sales. 

Bonati will manage the global sales activities for the company’s industry-specific software and service solutions. 

By Nathan Needel, PRD International

For years, surveillance systems have recorded thefts and other incidences, including those at POS location, for future investigation. Now, video can be used to stop incidences as they happen. To do this, users need to quit thinking of surveillance systems as simply repositories of what’s been seen and recorded and, instead, think of cameras as sensors in a system. Why should you have to search through recordings to locate the incident when, if fact, they can stop it as it happens?

WASHINGTON — The National Retail Federation's president and CEO Matthew Shay and chief economist Jack Kleinhenz have issued a statement concerning June's employment numbers, released by the Department of Labor.

NEW YORK, N.Y. — Happy Family, a leading organic baby and toddler food brand founded and operated by moms, wants picky eaters to clean their plates for a chance to win $20,000 toward a college education.

As part of the campaign, which launched on Facebook and is called Stories from the Bright Side, Happy Family is calling parents to submit their funny mealtime moments.

Oakbrook Terrace, Ill. -- Mid-America Real Estate Corp. has brokered the sale of Danada Square East, a 202,036-sq.-ft. grocery anchored shopping center in the Chicago suburb of Wheaton, Ill. Dominick’s anchors the center.

Newport Capital Fund I purchased the property for $31,625,000 from CBRE Global Investors.

Cincinnati, Ohio -- Phillips Edison-ARC Shopping Center REIT Inc. has announced the acquisition of Sunset Center, a 164,797-sq.-ft. shopping center anchored by a 54,971-sq.-ft. Safeway.

The acquisition brings the Phillips Edison-ARC portfolio to 41 properties in 16 states with an aggregate purchase price of approximately $518.5 million.