News

Sister publication Drug Store News has learned that Mary Kelly has been appointed EVP and chief merchandising officer at Rexall Pharma Plus.

Kelly, who has more than 26 years of experience leading business teams in Canada and the United States, joins the company after four years at Shoppers Drug Mart, most recently as EVP, merchandising and category management. Prior to that, Kelly served 17 years at Target in a variety of key leadership positions in merchandising and pharmacy, and at Revco Drug Stores and Eli Lilly before that. 

Walmart was an early proponent of compact fluorescent light bulbs and now, thanks to a collaboration with GE, it plans to introduce low cost LED light bulbs under its Great Value store brand.

Publix is heading to South Carolina with two stores which will be located in North Myrtle Beach and Pawleys Island.

The first lease is for North Myrtle Beach located in the Coastal North Town Center at Hwy. 17 and Moss Place. The store will be a 49,000-sq.-ft. Publix supermarket and is expected to open in late 2014.

Harris Teeter’s shareholders voted to approve the previously announced merger agreement among Harris Teeter, Hornet Acquisition and Kroger.

Approximately 98.6% of the votes cast were in favor of the agreement, representing approximately 82.5% of Harris Teeter’s outstanding common stock as of Aug. 22.

The National Retail Federation showed its Christmas spirit on Thursday by releasing a holiday forecast that calls for sales to increase 3.9% to $602 billion and assumes the President and Congress will be able to resolve their differences.

NRF’s forecasted growth rate of 3.9% is a solid figure and well above the 3.3% average growth rate of the past 10 years and ahead of last year’s 3.5% gain. In addition, the trade group’s Shop.org digital division forecast that online sales would grow between 13% and 15% to roughly $82 billion.

Supermarket chain Raley's is teaming up with a web portal that offers discounts to members of the chain's loyalty card program.

Aisle50 announced the partnership with the California-based chain, which will offer it at all its 120 Raley's Bel Air and Nob Hill Foods locations. Aisle50 works by allowing customers to purchase items online and then pick them up in the store, receiving discounts using their loyalty cards.

Home furnishings retailer West Elm is opening a retail store in Birmingham, Ala., Thursday, Oct. 10 — it’s first ever location in the state.

The nearly 8,000-sq.ft. store located in the Summit Birmingham shopping center will feature the brand’s mix of furniture, home décor, gifts and artist collaborations. The store will also feature an assortment of local handcrafted products sourced through Etsy.com, including one-of-a-kind furniture, lighting, leather goods and wall art.

IBM has acquired Xtify Inc.,a leading provider of cloud-based mobile messaging tools that help organizations improve mobile sales, drive in-store traffic and engage customers with personalized offers. Financial terms are not being disclosed.

The acquisition will help extend IBM's mobile capabilities to digital marketers across all industries ranging from retail to citizen engagement in the public sector through cloud-based services.

Sam’s Club maintains its emphasis on health care this month with a traffic-generating promotion tied in with breast cancer awareness.

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month, Sam's Club is offering free women's health screenings to members and non-members on Saturday, October 12 from 11a.m. to 3p.m. at its 576 clubs which contain a pharmacy.

Former Walmart executive Mark Trowbridge has joined supply chain technology provider Park City Group as one of the firm’s senior advisors.

Trowbridge spent 16 years at Walmart where he launched the Neighborhood Market store and a merchant leadership rogram to recruit and train buyers, according to a press release announcing his new role at Park City Group. He still lives in Bentonville. Trowbridge’s new responsibilities include developing business solutions, consulting and expanding efforts in the retail channel.