Item and price have been the keys to retail success for almost a century. Sell high-demand items at a better price than your competition and you were likely to prosper. But, things have changed — permanently. Today values have replaced value as the organizing principle of commerce and society. Millennial and Gen Z shoppers
SEATTLE — Amazon.com Inc. will acquire Whole Foods Market Inc. for $13.7 billion, including debt, in the biggest deal ever for the e-tailer as it continues to encroach on the grocery sector. Amazon will pay $42 a share in cash for the natural food chain, the companies said this month. Whole Foods cofounder and chief
BATAVIA, Ill. — Discount grocer Aldi announced it would add 900 stores in the next five years, taking its U.S. total to 2,500 and putting it third in the country by store count, behind Kroger Co. and Walmart. Aldi said it had added $3.4 billion to its capital budget to finance the expansion. That’s on
NEW YORK — Long lines of shoppers greeted the openings of Lidl’s first nine U.S. stores this month. Hundreds of customers awaited the debuts of stores in Virginia Beach and Hampton, Va., as well as in Greenville, S.C. Other lines formed in North Carolina. The off-price German retailer expects to have 20 supermarkets operating in
WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS Health and Cigna are teaming up to bring a new model of health care and drug coverage to patients. Cigna Health Works, which joins Cigna-administered health benefits with CVS Pharmacy and MinuteClinic retail pharmacy and health services, is designed to help patients get the most from their health benefits at their
HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Sears Holdings Corp. will cut about 400 full-time jobs, mostly at headquarters, as part of its turnaround effort. The positions being eliminated also include support functions globally, certain field operations positions and jobs related to store closures. The eliminated jobs amount to less than 0.5% of the 140,000 full- and part-time
WASHINGTON — Retail sales in May declined 0.3% as Americans spent less on motor vehicles and discretionary items, according to the Commerce Department. Lower gasoline prices contributed to last month’s decline. Stores selling consumer electronics and appliances posted their largest month-on-month declines in seven years. Excluding automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services, retail sales
ARLINGTON, Va. — Grocery shoppers want “a clear and honest experience” with their food, according to the Food Marketing Institute (FMI). And to guarantee such an experience, shoppers are demanding transparency from players all along the food supply chain, FMI said in its “2017 U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends” report, presented at the FMI Future Leaders
SUMMERVILLE, S.C. — BJ’s Wholesale Club marked its expansion into South Carolina with the grand opening of its Summerville store earlier this month. The foray into South Carolina enlarges the company’s footprint to 215 clubs in 16 states. The Summerville Club is located in Summerville’s primary retail corridor. The new club in Summerville could save
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — In June 2016, the first Fresco y Más opened in Hialeah, Fla. This month, to celebrate that occasion, the Hispanic-themed store unveiled seven new locations, bringing the number of stores to 18. Adding to the milestone, Southeastern Grocers LLC, parent company of Fresco y Más, as well as BI-LO, Harveys and Winn-Dixie
GOODLETTSVILLE, Tenn. — Dollar General officials were joined earlier this month by local dignitaries, including House Speaker Paul Ryan (R., Wis.), at a grand opening ceremony for the retailer’s 14th distribution center, in Ryan’s hometown of Janesville, Wis. Dollar General invested about $100 million in the facility, creating more than 500 local jobs, according to
CHICAGO — An expanding economy and a growing middle class make India the developing country that is most promising for retail development, according to the latest Global Retail Development Index (GRDI) from management consulting firm A.T. Kearney Inc. Recent changes in the regulatory environment is another factor cited by Kearney for placing India atop its