Family Dollar Shooting for 300 New Store Openings This Year

During its first fiscal quarter of 2011, Family Dollar Stores opened 85 new stores and closed 18 stores, compared with 43 openings and 33 closings in the first quarter of fiscal 2010.  "We are well on our way to meeting our plan of 300 new stores this year, a 50% increase over last year," said Ken Smith, senior vice president and CFO, during the company's earnings call.

Co Star Group

Five Grocers Make Fortune's '100 Best Companies to Work For'

Where grocers are concerned, it appears that private operations provide the best working environment, if this year's Fortune "100 Best Companies to Work For" list is any indication. Of the five grocers on the list, only one is a public company.  The grocers who made the list are: Wegman's Food Markets (No. 3), Nugget Market (No. 8), Stew Leonard's (No. 18), public grocer Whole Foods Market (No. 24), and Publix Super Markets (No. 67).

Progressive Grocer

Ahold Q4 Results Up on Domestic Demand

Ahold has reported a solid but unspectacular rise in sales for its fourth quarter, helped by growth in its home market and across Europe, which helped offset continued tough trading conditions in the US. The group said that shoppers remained under pressure and it was forced to focus on promotions, particularly in the US.  For the three months to end-December, sales were up 5.5% to €7bn on a constant-currency and calendar-adjusted basis (up 2.6% on a reported basis).

Kam City

Asda Continues to Open 'Phone Shops'

Asda has said it plans to open another 22 'Phone Shop' concessions, after successfully trialing two of them in its Manchester Eastlands and Sutton Coldfield superstores. The move is part of the chain's plans to further expand into the mobile market, as it looks to gain share from rivals Tesco and Carphone Warehouse. Two of the new shop-in-shop concepts will open at outlets in Milton Keynes and Watford this quarter, with another 20 set to open later in 2011. A further rollout is on the cards that will see Phone Shops in all of Asda's 40 superstores.

Kam City

Matahari Aims to Become Domestic Hypermarket Leader with Expansion

Matahari Putra Prima, Indonesia's biggest retailer in terms of market value, has said it will aim to overtake Carrefour as the country's largest hypermarket chain by 2012. Matahari currently operates 52 Hypermart outlets, and said it will open 12 new Hypermart outlets every year until 2015, "especially in places outside Java".

Kam City

Suspects in Several Thefts Roll Cart Out of Superior Target and Into Cops

 
 A theft ring that made a habit of stealing from Target stores picked the wrong time to be fleeing their latest mark.  Boulder County deputies had just pulled into the parking lot of a Target store at 400 Center Drive in Superior on Friday to check out a stolen car when they saw three suspicious men, according to Sgt. Tom McGrath, a sheriff's spokesman.  The men were pushing a shopping cart bulging with stolen electronics equipment they had just swiped from the Target, McGrath said.  As it turns out, they were headed to the same car that had been reported as being stolen from Arvada, he said.  Deputies promptly arrested the three, McGrath said.

Denver Post