News Briefs

Seven United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union locals, which together represent more than 600 pharmacists and pharmacy workers at Ralphs, Vons, Albertsons and Pavilions stores across Southern California, have revealed that members voted overwhelmingly to authorize union leadership to call for strikes on the basis of unfair labor practices.

“Southern California’s essential pharmacists have made their voices heard with this vote,” the seven locals said in a statement. “They have made the difficult decision to stand together on the picket line should it become necessary in protest of the unlawful and unfair treatment they’ve received from Ralphs, Vons, Albertsons and Pavilions. This vote gives union leaders the authorization to call for a strike and lays the groundwork to allow more than 600 pharmacists across California to stand up to protect their rights and ensure they have the ability to effectively serve their patients and communities.”

Negotiations resumed July 22 with UFCW and Ralphs, Vons, Albertsons and Pavilions. No dates have been set yet for a strike. 

The locals filed unfair labor practice charges against Ralphs, Vons, Albertsons and Pavilions with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging violations of federal labor law and intimidation of workers engaged in union activity, among other charges.

UFCW locals 8GS, 135, 324, 770, 1167, 1428 and 1442 make up the largest union grocery contract in the nation, including 600-plus pharmacists and pharmacy workers who serve  communities at Ralphs, Albertsons, Vons and Pavilions pharmacies spanning from Central California to the Mexican border.

With almost 2,800 retail food stores under various banner names, including Ralphs, Cincinnati-based Kroger is No. 4 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2022 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons operates more than 2,200 retail stores with 1,700-plus pharmacies under 24 well-known banners, among them Albertsons, Vons and Pavilions. Albertsons is No. 9 on The PG 100.

Tops Friendly Markets has promoted two team members to serve as the company’s new construction managers. The New York-based grocer elevated Craig Degroat (pictured on bottom) from his most recent position of maintenance specialist and also moved up Jaime Paterson (pictured on top), who has worked for the grocer as a maintenance technician, maintenance specialist and project manager.

Both Degroat and Paterson began their careers at The Penn Traffic Co. Degroat is a 10-year Tops employee and Paterson is a 12-year team member.

In other personnel news, Tops recently tapped Shannon Nicholson for a store manager role at its Wellsboro, Penn., location, a promotion from her assistant store manager job. Also in July, the grocer announced that Angelena Goot is officially a new store manager at the Frewsburg, N.Y., Tops Friendly Market following her stint as interim store manager.

Williamsville, N.Y.-based Tops Markets LLC operates 150 supermarkets, including five franchise stores, and employs more than 14,000 associates in New York, northern Pennsylvania and western Vermont. The banner’s parent company, Northeast Grocery Inc., is No. 44 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2022 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. 

Stater Bros. Markets has connected to the NCR Commerce Platform (NCP) to help reduce infrastructure complexity and improve consumer experiences across all sales channels. The grocer implemented NCR Emerald, a cloud-based point-of-sale (POS) solution that leverages the NCP to unify all technology needed to run the store. Stater Bros. now has access to such new capabilities and services as POS solutions and NCR Emerald’s end-to-end connectivity.

“To improve our shoppers’ experience and create new, compelling services, NCR delivered a simplified platform architecture and built-in redundancy for maximum uptime,” said Gil Salazar, SVP of information technology at Stater Bros. “NCR Emerald checked every box, and as our customers’ needs change, the technology will be able to evolve, which is critically important to our business.”

NCR Emerald enabled Stater Bros. to roll out capabilities to its POS lanes with ease, speed and flexibility, and empowered the company to easily deploy more options for its consumers. The grocer was able to successfully deploy all-new software and lane hardware to all 171 of its stores in just 15 weeks.

“NCR Emerald will simplify Stater Bros. store operations and open up connections to the NCP, enabling better data insights and an improved consumer shopping experience,” said David Wilkinson, president and general manager of Atlanta-based NCR Retail. “The NCP unifies technology needed to run the store and provides the backbone for new services that further spur innovation.” 

San Bernardino, Calif.-based Stater Bros. operates its 171 supermarkets in seven Southern California counties and employs about 18,000 associates. The company is No. 59 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2022 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.

As the rapid delivery sector settles out in the wake of pandemic-era acceleration and then deceleration, a new collaboration seeks to leverage data to meet shoppers’ ever-shifting needs and preferences. On-demand grocery company Gorillas and information services firm NielsenIQ are teaming up to pool data and delivery for a better omnichannel experience.

Through this partnership, NielsenIQ will provide data and analytics to the Germany-based Gorillas for its operations in Germany, the U.S., U.K. and Netherlands. The information includes consumer-sourced panel data and custom retail analytics.

“We are thrilled that Gorillas has chosen NielsenIQ to supply them with the most comprehensive consumer data available,” said David Johnson, president, global retail at NielsenIQ. “This is very exciting to work in cooperation with Gorillas, a company that we have closely followed as a market leader in the grocery ordering and delivery industry. Innovation in grocery e-commerce and last-mile delivery is moving at lightning speed and our data cooperation will allow for better decisions at Gorillas and with manufacturers, something the industry is excited about.”

Gorillas is turning to data-based decision-making at a time of change. Earlier this summer, the company announced that it is re-tooling its strategies and tactics, laying off some team members, scaling back expansion plans in the U.S. and closing warehouses in Europe. Gorillas current operates delivery service in the New York City metro area.

Broulim’s Fresh Foods, which serves shoppers in eastern Idaho and Wyoming, will officially begin accepting Supplement Nutritional Assistant Program (SNAP) payments online. The service will initially be available to customers in Idaho and will be powered by Broulim’s e-commerce platform Rosie.

“It is crucial that we offer our customers options when it comes to their online shopping experience,” said Robert Broulim, president of St. Rigby, Idaho-based Broulim’s Fresh Foods. “The opportunity to offer SNAP online removes financial barriers for families in our community, allowing all individuals to access healthy quality products.”

Some 34,000 Idaho households and 85,000 individual Idahoans use SNAP benefits each day, and more than 77% of SNAP participants are in families with children.

“Online grocery shopping is an essential part of our everyday lives and we at Rosie believe it is essential for independent grocers to have the tools they need to provide solutions to the underserved in their community, and compete and win against national chains,” said Haley Sammis, head of account management at Ithaca, N.Y.-based Rosie. “We’re incredibly proud to be part of a program that is impacting hundreds of thousands of SNAP recipients nationwide."

Whole Foods Market will open a new 54,667-square-foot store, located at Penn Plaza (5700 Penn Avenue) in Pittsburgh on Aug. 10. The store will serve as a relocation of the existing Pittsburgh store (5880 Centre Avenue), which has served the community for more than 20 years.

The new store’s modern industrial design is inspired by Pittsburgh’s many bridges, with vibrant colors, arches and steel rods painted throughout the store, and a mural dedicated to the city. The new location’s product assortment features 120 Pennsylvania suppliers, with products handpicked by Kathleen Wood and Daniela D’Ambrosio, local foragers for Whole Foods Market’s Mid-Atlantic Region. Local options include salad kits from Fifth Season, PHL Dark Pennsylvania Dutch Pretzel Bar from Éclat Chocolate, Perpetual IPA from Tröegs Independent Brewing, and breads from Mediterra.

A full-service coffee bar will offer coffee, lattes, cold brew and tea. Seasonal summer drinks include Mint Matcha Lemonade and Peach Oolong Tea.

Customers who stop by the new store on opening morning can enjoy complimentary Steel Cup Coffee and snacks from Zaza’s Biscotti. The first 400 customers will receive a gift card valued at between $5 and $100 and a Whole Foods Market Penn Plaza tote bag. The store will also host a Community Cares donation event from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET on opening day with donation partner 412 Food Rescue, with the aim of donating food to community members in need.

In addition to the Pittsburgh location, Whole Foods will open a new store in Culver City, Calif., on Aug. 10 and one in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Aug. 17.

Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods has more than 500 stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Seattle-based Amazon, which is No. 2 on The PG 100,  Progressive Grocer’s 2022 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.