Supermarket/Grocery

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Friday it has created a new executive position to oversee new store formats in international markets.
 
Lev Khasis, who joined the company in 2011 after working in Russian retail, was named president and CEO of new formats for Wal-Mart International. He built up Russia’s largest food retailer X5 through acquisitions into a market leader before resigning to join Wal-Mart Stores.
 

Retailer and supplier consolidation has led to the demise of some conventional trade shows, but that’s not the case with the Sweets & Snacks Expo.

Record attendance is expected at the event scheduled for May 21 through May 23 in Chicago due in part to format changes by event organizer the National Confectioners Association and the strength of merchandise categories represented at the mega event.

Deerfield, Ill. -- Walgreens reported Friday that sales for the month of December dipped 4% to $6.71 billion, from $6.99 billion in the year-ago period.
 
Total front-end sales fell 1.3% and same-store front-end sales decreased 2.3%.
 
Total same-store sales fell 6.1% in December.

Nineteen of the nation’s leading retail and CPG companies received perfect scores on the 2013 Corporate Equality Index compiled by the Human Rights Campaign.

The Human Rights Campaign released its 2013 Corporate Equality Index, which gives companies ratings of up to 100% based on their policies regarding LGBT employees and also released a buyer's guide for LGBT consumers. According to the equality advocacy group, a total of 1,848 companies were invited to submit applications, of those 530 actually did so and of those 252 received scores of 100%.

Top food executives at Walmart are presumably in the crosshairs of Safeway recruiters now that longtime chairman and CEO Steve Burd has announced his retirement.

New York -- Target Corp. turned in a less than stellar performance in December, recording flat same-store sales. But Costco Wholesale Corp. and TJX shone, exemplifying an up-and-down season in which consumers backed off buying amid concerns about a “fiscal cliff” and the uncertain economic climate.

New York -- The hunt is on for a new chief executive at Safeway following the resignation of longtime chairman and CEO Steve Burd.

Burd, 62, is scheduled to retire at the company’s annual stockholders meeting on May 14 and will aid in the search of his successor that is said to include internal and external candidates. Burd joined Safeway in October 1992 as president and was appointed CEO in May of the following year.

At a time of year when much of the retail news we hear focuses on receipts and holiday sales performance, I can’t help thinking that the notion of value has become synonymous with price — and only price. You can make the argument that price has nearly hijacked the whole definition of value. Why is that, exactly? Should retailers be paying closer and more systematic attention to how they articulate (and how customers perceive) the value of their brand?