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Retail Industry Newswire
March 10, 2011
North American News 

Safeway Boosts Pace of New-Store Openings

Safeway plans to become more aggressive in opening new stores now that its lifestyle remodeling effort is nearly complete.  Safeway expects to open 26 new stores this year - the highest number in the last four years, and to complete 30 remodels, at a cost of $1 billion. That compares with $800 million spent in 2010 to open 14 new stores and remodel 60, which brought the number of lifestyle stores up to 85% of the store base.

Supermarket News



Discounts Hit Profit at Sobeys Parent Empire

Empire Co Ltd, parent of Canada's Sobeys grocery chain, reported a lower quarterly profit on Tuesday due to aggressive holiday-season discounting and falling food prices.  At Sobeys, sales at stores open for at least a year, or same-store sales, a key measure for retailers, fell 0.4 percent in the quarter.

Reuters



Kohl's to Open 9 Stores in 7 States, Hiring 1,200

Kohl's Department Stores Inc. is opening nine stores in seven states, a move it says will create more than 1,200 jobs. The mid-price department store chain said Wednesday it's opening stores in Illinois, New York, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin. The Menomonee Falls company says it also plans to open about 30 more stores this year.

KBTX



Target Opening Clinics in Four Area Stores

Target Corp. said today it is opening health-care clinics in four east metro SuperTarget stores. Target currently has clinics in 37 of its stores. Besides the already-open Woodbury store, it plans to add seven more by the end of the year, including in three in Illinois and one in Florida.

Twin Cities Pioneer Press



Wal-Mart to Break Ground on Small Stores Next Week

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will next week start building its first Express stores, a format less than a tenth the size of an average supercenter, according to building permits.  While Wal-Mart has kept details of the new stores a closely guarded secret, Steve Restivo, a company spokesman, confirmed the location of the store openings and the timing in an e-mail. Work on similar stores in nearby Prairie Grove and Gravette will also start over the next two weeks, said town officials. The new stores will feature a pharmacy and groceries section.

Bloomberg 

European News 

Auchan Reports Solid Growth in FY

Auchan has reported a healthy set of figures for its last fiscal year, helped by growth in Central Europe and Asia. For the year, net profit was up 6.7% to €705m, while revenue rose by 7.1% to €42.5bn (up 4.9% on a constant-currency basis), with like-for-like sales up 1.3%.  The group opened 44 hypermarkets, with 30 of those opening in Asia, where it now has more than 200 outlets.

KamCity

U.K. and Ireland News 

Asda Set to Open Record Number of Stores in 2011 After OFT Clears Netto Acquisition

Asda is set to open 168 stores in 2011, adding 1.8m sq. ft. of retail food space, in the largest single year of growth in its history. The additional space is a combination of planned organic growth and the acquisition of 147 Netto stores, which the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) said today would not be referred to the Competition Commission.

KamCity



Oddbins Not Closing Irish Stores

Oddbins Ireland has confirmed that it is not closing any of its Irish stores.The UK-based chain of off-licences announced today that it is closing 39 of its stores in the United Kingdom, a third of the company's stores in the country.

The Journal

Australian, Asian and African News 

S.Africa's Shoprite to Buy Metcash Franchise Unit

Africa's biggest grocer Shoprite has agreed to buy the franchise unit of unlisted South African rival Metcash Trading for an undisclosed amount, the two companies said in a joint statement. Metcash's franchise unit operates supermarket chains such as Friendly, Seven Eleven and Price Club Discount across South Africa.

Reuters 

Middle Eastern News 

Super-Sol Launching Monster Store Format

Super-Sol will be opening 15 branches of a new brand over the next year: Super-Sol Deal Extra, featuring larger stores and bulk packages. The retailer will be opening the first nine Extra stores next month. The move follows the recent decision to convert all of the Super-Sol Big stores to discount Super-Sol Deal stores.

Haaretz

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Pushout Theft of the Week
Stolen Groceries Leads to Assault

A Rotterdam man is charged with stealing over $500 in groceries from the Malta Price Chopper and assaulting security personnel who tried to stop him. Store security observed the man load up a grocery cart with $559 worth of food and attempt to leave the store without paying.  The man was confronted by security and he attempted to flee when they tried to detain him. A struggle ensued and two more store security personnel plus one shopper joined the struggle and were finally able to subdue and detain the man.
  
  

 

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