Walmart Canada Eyes Supercenter Growth

The Canadian arm of retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will open 40 supercenter-format stores over the next fiscal year, investing more than 500 million Candian dollars to build new sites and expand, remodel or relocate existing stores across the country. The retailer confirmed it will bring its supercenters concept to two new provinces this year-Manitoba and Quebec.  The company's plan to open 40 supercentres by Jan. 31, 2012, the end of its next fiscal year.

Wall Street Journal

Stater Bros. Introduces Free Personal Vitamin Recommendation Program

To help its shoppers make sure they are getting the vitamins they need, Stater Bros. added a service to its website that was developed to guide visitors through a free 5-minute personal health survey.  As an added convenience, customers can take the 5-minute personal health survey with the help of a Stater Bros. pharmacist at any one of the 27 Stater Bros. Super Rx Pharmacy locations. 

Progressive Grocer

Chicago Lawn's Jewel-Osco Closing; 5 Save-A-Lots Opening on South Side

Jewel-Osco is closing a grocery store at 6057 S. Western Ave. on Feb. 24 because of lagging business. Residents will soon have a smaller, lower-cost and limited-assortment grocery alternative when Save-A-Lot opens five stores Feb. 24 on Chicago's South Side.  The Save-A-Lot stores, a wholly owned subsidiary of Supervalu, which owns Jewel-Osco stores, measure 15,000 square feet, on average, compared with a Jewel-Osco store averaging 45,000 to 55,000 square feet.

Chicago Sun-Times

Roof of Centennial IKEA Store Will Have 2,212 Solar Panels

IKEA's new furniture store in Centennial will sport 2,212 solar power panels on its roof when it opens in the fall 2011.  The company installed a geothermal heating system to help with heating and cooling the building. The store will be IKEA's first store in the United States to use geothermal technology.  The 60,000-square-foot solar power system on the store's roof is expected to produce about 740,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a year for the store.

Denver Business Journal

Competition, Deflation Impact Metro's Q1

Price deflation driven by intense competitive activity contributed to flat same-store sales and decreased earnings during the fiscal fourth quarter for Metro Inc.  Overall sales of $2.6 billion (U.S.) decreased by 0.5% for the 12-week period, which ended Dec. 18. Net earnings fell 6.2% to $98.1 million, but improved by 3.7% when adjusted for an income tax decrease and non-recurring expenses. EBITDA decreased by 0.6% during the quarter but remained flat as a percent of sales at 6.9%. 

Supermarket News

Waitrose, Discounters Outperform Big Four in Customer Satisfaction

Waitrose is the most popular supermarket in the UK in terms of service, which also revealed that customers now prefer hard discounters Aldi and Lidl over the four main grocers. Waitrose topped the survey for the second straight year with a score of 85%, with customers saying it made shopping a "pleasurable experience".  Marks & Spencer came in second at 68%, followed by Aldi (65%), and Lidl (64%), beating off the other chains, none of which touched the 50% satisfaction mark.

Kam City

Superdrug to Launch Loyalty Program

Superdrug has said it is set to launch a loyalty card scheme, finally latching onto the success that rivals have had with similar offers. The chain said it will launch the scheme in May 2011, adding that it is looking for an agency to handle the program.

Kam City

Home Depot Shut Down Five of 12 China Stores

The Home Depot has shut down five of its 12 stores in China by far, but it does not intend to withdraw from the market.  The foreign retailer marched into the Chinese market via the acquisition of Home World at the end of 2006, but later, rumors said that the retailer did not operate well. Since the shut-down the Qingdao store in June 2009, The Home Depot started shutting down stores in succession. By far, five of 12 stores in China have stopped operation so that the retailer does not have a store in Beijing. 

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