News

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has expanded its offering of baked goods and desserts. The retailer has introduced more than 60 new products including new varieties of bagels, scones, cookies, breads, pies, cupcakes, and pastries. The new products include several seasonal flavored, gluten free and organic options and like all fresh&easy brand products, contain no artificial colors or flavors, high-fructose corn syrup, or added trans fats, according to the company.

Talk about an uphill battle. Walmart is trying to educate shoppers about eating healthy on a limited budget and the importance of understanding unit prices when evaluating purchase decisions.

BALTIMORE — Sprout Foods is adding new toddler puree snacks to its portfolio and also will introduce more convenient product packaging, the company announced at the Natural Products Expo East in Baltimore.

Camp Hill, Pa. -- Rite Aid Corp. reported Thursday a loss of $41.4 million in the second quarter, significantly narrowed from a $94.7 million loss in the year-ago period.

Revenue slipped to $6.23 billion from $6.27 billion last year, missing Wall Street’s projected $6.25 billion in sales. Same-store sales were essentially flat for the quarter.

MINNEAPOLIS — Supervalu has named Kathy Persian as SVP and chief information officer. Persian joined the company in February 2010 in the role of group VP retail and merchandising systems, and later moved to group VP corporate planning, analysis and business process. Persian was named to the CIO post following the decision by Wayne Shurts to accept a position with another company. Shurts joined Supervalu in April 2010.

Arlington, Va. -- Retailers are up in arms over the proposed settlement filed in July of antitrust lawsuits filed by merchants against Visa, MasterCard and the nation's largest banks. A total of nine associations representing a broad swath of the retail industry expressed their reservations to members of Congress on Thursday, charging that their interests were not represented and asking Congress to reject that settlement.

PITTSBURGH — Dick's Sporting Goods has launced a new mobile application for iPhone and Android smartphones.

With the new Dick's Sporting Goods Mobile App, users will have access to all the benefits of the ScoreCard Rewards Program, the ability to locate Dick's stores in the area or make purchases directly from the app as well as be rewarded for engaging with the Dick's Sporting Goods brand on social media.

Widespread media reports have Walmart discontinuing the sale of Amazon’s popular Kindle devices, which begs the questions what took so long and will we ever see a Walmart tablet.

Walmart’s decision to begin selling the Kindle was one of the more wrong-headed moves the company has ever made. A Kindle is Amazon’s version of a Gillette razor, essentially a device that provides consumers a portal to purchase Amazon’s other inventory, or in Gillette’s case, more blades. Target wisely gave Kindle the boot earlier this year.