instore - October 2016 - 8

news

ON OUR RADAR

Meijer is partnering with Shipt to offer the service. "For us, it really
is about offering convenience to customers," says Art Sebastian,
Meijer's director of digital shopping. Consumers will need to have a
Shipt membership, which is $99 per year, as well as pay a $7 delivery
fee on orders of less than $35. Orders totaling more than $35 carry no
additional fee.

Giant Eagle opened its Market District Express store in Bexley, OH, in
late August, anchoring one of the company's smaller stores with its
signature restaurant. Table by Market District makes its Ohio debut
in the new store, offering a full-service restaurant experience with
seating for 155 and a menu inspired by seasonal ingredients and the
surrounding community.
Plates range from $6 to $11 in the restaurant. An extensive beer and
wine list is also available, including 18 craft beers. Customers can
order wine by the glass, or select
a bottle from the 1,200 varieties
available in-store for selling price
plus a $10 corkage fee.
The store as a whole is two
stories high and checks in at
30,000 sq-ft, much smaller than
the typical 100,000 sq-ft Giant
Eagle location.

German grocery giant Lidl, after already buying property in Norfolk,
VA, has started work on a property in Virginia Beach, VA. The two
locations will be the company's first in the US.
According to the Virginian-Pilot, Lidl is already in hiring mode. Virginia
governor Terry McAuliffe hailed the German company's plan to build
a $77 million US headquarters in Arlington County and a $125 million
distribution center in Spotsylvania County in 2015. It was estimated
then that the projects could create 700 jobs. The Lidl locations could
be 80 percent larger than Aldi stores, according to the Pilot, but closer
in scale to a Wal-Mart neighborhood store.

In early September, Circle K parent Alimentation Couche-Tard
awarded a contract to distributor McLane Co. Inc., a supply-chain
8 * OCTOBER 2016 * instore

services business in the Eastern and Midwestern US. McLane will
begin serving 1,161 Circle K locations in January and an additional 982
locations in January of 2018, totaling 2,143 stores. In addition, Circle
K has extended a multiyear agreement with McLane to continue
serving the 1,356 former Pantry locations in the Southeast.

Thanks to a push to save a historic theater, Hy-Vee says it is putting
plans for a 91,500 sq-ft store on hold.
According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, more than 1,000 people
signed a petition calling for the boycott of Hy-Vee, a Des Moines,
IA-based grocer, in an effort to save the historic Terrace Theatre from
being demolished on the 10-acre site.
"Over the past several weeks, it's been difficult to witness the friction
our proposed project has caused among Robbinsdale residents,"
Hy-Vee spokeswoman Tara Deering-Hansen said in a prepared statement. "When we enter a community, we want to be respectful of our
neighbors' history, culture and all the things that matter to them. We
will continue to assess the situation and keep communication lines
open with city officials."

BJ's Wholesale Club now offers new, upscale, two-tiered Wellsley
Farm cakes for a fraction of specialty bakery prices. The two-tiered
cake features a five-inch round cake tacked onto a 10-inch round cake,
available in gold with a smooth and creamy vanilla buttercream icing.
The cakes are $29.99 and can serve 40 or more guests.
They are available in 16 popular licensed kid themes including Dory,
Angry Birds, Darth Vader, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Paw Patrol,
Hello Kitty, Sesame Street and more. BJ's also collaborates with
members to create customized cakes for milestones such as anniversaries, birthdays, showers and weddings.

Thorntons, a Louisville, KY-based chain of 178 c-stores throughout
the Southeast and Midwest, announced its launch of 28 new store
concepts. These stores, the company says, will redefine convenience
and offer guests an elevated experience with quality food in a real
kitchen setting.
The Thorntons Real Kitchen locations are equipped with kitchens and
cooks who handcraft high-quality food. A new menu includes hot pretzels, breakfast and lunch burritos, pizza sticks, cheeseburgers and more.
All food is freshly prepared in-store. The company plans to market
the new concepts with a series of television, digital media, and radio
spots, social media campaigns, and grand opening events complete
with free food sampling.

GIANT EAGLE

Michigan-based supermarket chain Meijer began home delivery
on Sept. 15 in the southeastern portion of the state, according to the
Detroit Free Press. The service will be an expansion of Meijer's curbside pickup program. It will initially be available in areas close to 25
designated stores in the Detroit metro.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of instore - October 2016