Distribution

Ahold USA has opened 120 pickup points for online orders as of the end of 2013. The company hopes to triple its online food sales by 2016, and said the opening of pickup points in the United States and Europe would be an important part of reaching that goal.

Most of the pickup points in the United States are operated under the Stop & Shop, Giant Food of Landover, Md., and Giant Food Stores of Carlisle, Pa., banners. The 120 pickup points compare with only eight a year ago.

Raj Jain, the former head of a joint venture between Walmart and Bharti Enterprises, has joined Bharti Retail as CEO.

Jain spent six years with the joint venture, Bharti Walmart, most recently serving as president of Walmart India. He left the joint venture in June 2013, four months before Walmart and Bharti announced they would independently pursue retail opportunities in India.

Joining Jain at Bharti Retail is his former joint venture colleague Panka Madan who will serve as CFO. Madan also served as CFO of Bharti Walmart but left the joint venture in 2012.

City of Commerce, Calif. — 99 Cents Only Stores opens its first store in Waco, Texas on Thursday, Jan. 9. The new store is approximately 13,000 square feet and will feature a perishable food department, including produce, dairy and frozen foods.

99 Cents Only Stores currently operates 339 extreme value retail stores consisting of 244 stores in California, 45 in Texas, 33 in Arizona, and 17 in Nevada.

Mondelez Global sold its SnackWell’s brand cookie and snacks business to the Back to Nature Foods Company, a joint venture between Brynwood Partners VI and Mondelez.

Brynwood VI and Mondelez Global formed the Back to Nature joint venture in 2012 through a structure whereby Brynwood VI acquired operating control and Mondelez Global retained a minority position in the new company.

Chicago — Whole Foods has recently acquired six Dominick's stores, the Sun-Times reported, citing real estate sources. And Jewel may buy as many as 16 Dominick's locations.

The news comes as suitors for the remainder of Safeway's Dominick's stores in Chicago, which are now shuttering their doors, are beginning to come forward, according to a report published Saturday in the Chicago Sun-Times. 

Glendale, Calif. — DineEquity, Inc., parent company of IHOP Restaurants, has opened the first IHOP restaurant in Saudi Arabia. The restaurant, located in “Le Mall,” is part of a seven-brand restaurant destination in Jeddah, which opened Dec. 14.

Chicago, Ill. — Forman Mills, an off price apparel retailer, has leased 38,487 sq. ft. at Grand Plaza in Franklin Park, Ill., according to CBRE, the leasing agent. The new store plans to open next spring.

The Forman Mills lease completes the lease up of a 96,260-sq.-ft. former Kmart, which closed in 2011.  

CBRE began leasing the space in 2012. The first lease was with Big Lots for 29,000 sq. ft. Next came a 29,000-sq.-ft.- lease to Savers Thrift Superstore, which later took another 29,000 sq. ft.

New York – Eight of the 25 largest retailers (32%, or roughly one-in-three) failed to deliver at least one package ordered on the cutoff date to arrive before Christmas via standard shipping in a study performed by StellaService. The study involved placing three orders, one each in the East, West and Midwest regions, from each retailer.

Of 75 total orders, 12% missed the delivery estimate. All but one of these orders were shipped using UPS, which is the preferred carrier for most of the top 25 retailers. Some retailer-specific results include: