News

BOISE, Idaho — Albertsons is pulling the plug on its self-checkout units, which will be replaced by standard "H" lanes or express lanes, the grocer has confirmed.

The 217-store grocer has self-checkout units installed in roughly 100 of its stores. Those units will be removed by the end of the summer.

According to the grocer, the self-checkout units prevent it from providing the level of customer service it wants to offer its shoppers.

PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y. —  While agreeing on many factors, men and women still value different things when it comes to purchasing decisions. 

According to a recent report from the NPD Group, when shoppers of both genders decide to purchase a consumer electronics product the most important thing to them is that the product be the same brand as something they already own. Men regard popularity of the product as their number two reason to purchase a CE product, while women want the product to work with what they already own. 

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens recently surpassed 1 million fans on Facebook, the pharmacy operator announced Friday, and also has integrated its network of more than 7,700 drug stores through mobile platforms on Facebook Places and Foursquare.

Consequently, Walgreens has quickly become the chain drug store retailer with the largest following on Foursquare, while developing a growing presence on other social communities, including Twitter and YouTube.

Former Walmart China executives Rob Cissell and Shawn Gray have joined the retail subsidiary of Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries, according to the Economic Times of India. Cissell will serve Reliance CEO and Gray will serve as COO, according to the newspaper.

San Diego -- Warehouse club operator PriceSmart reported Thursday that net income for the quarter ended May 31 rose to $16.3 million, compared with $12 million in the year-ago period.

Sales surged 23.6% to $421.6 million, from $341.2 million.

The company had previously announced it acquired 131,524 sq. ft. of land in Cali, Colombia, upon which it will build its second warehouse club in Colombia.
 

Costco and BJ’s reported impressive same-store sales for June, and that’s good news for Sam’s Club. Given the strong correlation in performance between Sam’s and its direct competitors it is reasonable to assume Sam’s is on track to easily attain its second quarter same-store sales guidance, which calls for an increase in the range of 3% to 5%. Sam’s posted a first-quarter comp increase of 4.2% but doesn’t provide monthly updates.

CAMP HILL, Pa. — Rite Aid announced Thursday changes in its human resources and operations departments.

The 4,700-store chain named Brian Fiala as EVP human resources and Robert Thompson as EVP store operations. Rite Aid also appointed Bill Romine as SVP of the chain’s western division.

Fiala had previously served as EVP store operations, having joined the company in 2007 after working for 24 years at Target. He replaces Steve Parsons, who is leaving the company to take another position, and will report to president and CEO John Standley.

Former Safeway real estate executive Dan Clayton has joined Denver-based Laramie Company as VP leasing. He previously served as real estate director at Safeway and in his new role will focus on tenant representation and project leasing.