Content about Grocery store

CHICAGO — Revamping the center store could present an opportunity worth more than $440 billion for supermarkets, according to a new study by SymphonyIRI.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Harris Teeter on Monday announced that more than $550,000 has been donated to local food banks out of the company’s Harvest Feast Food Drive and Donation Card Campaign.  

The campaign ran during the month of November in all Harris Teeter stores; customers purchased $1, $5 or $20 donation cards, and the dollars donated during the campaign equate to 4.4 million meals which the food banks involved are able to provide to community members-in-need. 

PITTSBURGH — Multiformat food and fuel retailer Giant Eagle will be introducing its first discount format Good Cents Grocery + More to the Pittsburgh market Nov. 4. The 46,000-sq.-ft. location will feature a 3,800-sq.-ft. produce section offering more than 230 conventional and organic produce items and a cheese department with more than 60 specialty items.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — Target is getting aggressive in a lot of ways. Canada. Big holiday plans. And now a plan to take a greater share of the ethnic beauty business.

(THE NEWS: Target unveils new ethnic beauty products at NYC event. For the full story, click here.)

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — With shoppers looking for ways to buy things more conveniently, it's clear that the age of the multichannel consumer is well under way, and retailers would be wise to respond in kind. Many of them have already done so.

According to retail consulting firm Upstream Commerce, convenience ranks at the top of reasons why consumers shop online, and as recent news has shown, this is just as true for supermarkets as it is for anyone else.

PLAINVIEW, N.Y. — A recent study showed that supermarkets generate high satisfaction among their shoppers. Supermarkets scored an average of 4.47 on a five-point satisfaction scale (where five is the highest), according to the "2012 U.S. Supermarket Experience Study" conducted by the Retail Feedback Group.

CHICAGO — Are macro category pressures across tobacco and gas driving convenience stores toward healthier food options? That's a question raised by a recently published white paper from Nielsen.

CHICAGO — An online grocery delivery service is launching "virtual grocery stores" at commuter rail stations across the country.

Peapod.com, owned by the U.S. subsidiary of Dutch supermarket operator Royal Ahold, announced it would launch more than 100 of the virtual grocery stores at commuter rail stations in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Chicago, New Jersey and Connecticut. Commuters in the markets Peapod serves spend an hour in transit to and from work each day, according to Census data.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Harris Teeter is currently renovating two locations into a new concept called 201central, which will carry an extensive variety of wine, beer, specialty foods and other general merchandise items. The new format also will feature an array of specialty services, including in-store wine consultants, event coordination and catering as well as party rentals and educational classes focused on wine, beer and food pairings.

MONTVALE, N.J. — Grocery A&P — which operates 320 stores, including The Food Emporium brand — has confirmed that it is looking to sell The Food Emporium business.

PLEASANTON, Calif. — Safeway on Wednesday announced that it plans to file a registration statement in the United States for a potential initial public offering of a minority ownership stake in Blackhawk Network Holdings, a leading prepaid payments network.

MINNEAPOLIS — As several suitors eye individual parts of the Supervalu business, Bloomberg reported that Supervalu is seeking buyers to bid for the entire business.

The news sparked a rise in Supervalu shares on Friday. As of press time, shares of Supervalu were up more than 9% to $2.32.