Supermarket/Grocery

Hyannis, Mass. -- Boston-based The Wilder Cos. said Tuesday that, as part of its major remerchandising of Southwind Plaza shopping center in Hyannis, Mass., Kohl’s and Whole Foods Market will be opening new stores at the Cape Cod property.

Kohl’s will begin construction of a nearly 55,000-sq.-ft. space in February with an opening planned for early October.  

Also joining the center with its first Cape location is Whole Foods Market, which will open a 26,000-sq.-ft. store in early 2014.
     

SALISBURY, N.C. — The future grocers of America will get a taste of what its like to work in the industry, thanks to a new, interactive exhibit by Food Lion on display at the Children's Museum in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Children will be able to go behind miniature-sized counters and cash registers and pretend they are checking out customers. They will also be able to experience three preparation areas to further allow them to imagine they are Food Lion associates.

NEW YORK — Ahold USA has named Mark McGowan as EVP merchandising. He will lead a merchandising team that supports Ahold USA and its four divisions: Stop & Shop New England, Stop & Shop New York Metro, Giant Landover and Giant Carlisle.

McGowan had previously served as EVP supply chain for Ahold USA and previously led the Boston division of Stop & Shop.

Walmart's U.K. chain, Asda, is optimizing its distribution operations by incorporating Isotrak vehicle-tracking, along with Paragon routing and scheduling software.

The new system has enabled Asda to implement a new regional distribution structure.

Columbus, Ohio – Bob Evans Farms said Tuesday it will divest its Mimi’s Café restaurant chain, selling it to LeDuff America – owner of Bruegger’s Bagels – for $50 million.

LeDuff America, a subsidiary of French bakery conglomerate Groupe LeDuff SA, will add the 145 Mimi’s units to its current portfolio of café-bakeries and coffee shops, including La Madeleine Country French Cafe, Brioche Doree, Bruegger's Bagels, Timothy's Coffee and Michel's Baguette.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Chief Super Market, an Ohio-based grocery chain, has selected Spartan Stores, a regional grocery distributor and retailer, as its primary wholesale grocery supplier.

Chief operates 12 stores in Northwest and West Central Ohio under the Chief and Rays banners. Spartan Stores stated that it will assume distribution to all of Chief’s banners for grocery, dairy, frozen, bakery and other products in March.

London -- A Tuesday report by Bloomberg said that Tesco Plc may be recovering from its financial doldrums, as the country’s largest supermarket chain has matched market growth for the first time in more than 18 months.

Citing Kantar Worldpanel’s latest market share figures, Bloomberg said that at Tesco stores rose 3.3% in the 12 weeks ended Jan. 20, the same pace as the industry. Growth exceeded Wal-Mart Stores’ Asda and J Sainsbury, which gained 2.1% and 3.2% respectively.

Eden Prairie, Minn. -- Bloomberg reported Tuesday that Supervalu Inc. has set the rate it will pay on $2.4 billion of loans to fund the sale of five supermarket chains to a Cerberus Capital Management LP-led investor group.

A six-year, $1.5 billion term will pay interest at 5.75 percentage points more than the London interbank offered rate with a 1.25 percent minimum, reported Bloomberg, citing an unnamed source.