News Briefs

The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is becoming a grocery megaplex with the expansion of yet another retailer. As grocers including H-E-B, The Kroger Co., Costco Wholesale Corp. and Albertsons Cos. are adding new stores in that area, reports surfaced that H Mart – the largest Asian supermarket chain in the U.S. – is planning a new location in Dallas.

Earlier this month, the Dallas City Council passed a $4 million grant and tax incentive package to bring H Mart into Dallas. The store in the Koreatown neighborhood will span more than 74,000 square feet and follows years of discussions and proposals.

"I'm very excited to welcome H Mart to the city of Dallas. H Mart is not just a grocery store, H Mart is an experience," said Omar Narvaez, the deputy mayor of Dallas who represents the Koreatown district. "You name it, they got it inside of their stores."

H Mart currently runs two other stores in Texas, in the cities of Plano and Carrollton.

Based in Lyndhurst, N.J., H Mart operates 97 stores across 14 states. The Asian grocery chain is No. 82 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2023 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. 

Target has opened its first Target Last Mile Delivery (TLMD) extension supply chain facility. As an extension of an existing sortation center in Atlanta, the facility, located near a Target store in Smyrna, Ga., increases the reach of the company’s next-day delivery capability to more than 500,000 additional customers in the greater Atlanta area, increasing the number of people it can serve via TLMD by more than 30% to 3 million-plus shoppers in the market.

Orders that fall outside the sortation center’s delivery area are moved to the TLMD extension facility, where drivers working with Shipt pick them up for delivery. The facility currently processes as many as 1,500 packages per day, with plans to increase that number in the next few months. 

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“TLMD extensions represent the latest milestone in our journey to deliver a best-in-class experience for our guests — however they choose to shop with us,” explained John Mulligan, Target’s EVP and COO. “These facilities are a continuation of our innovative efforts to serve millions of guests and reach millions more while maximizing speed, efficiency and care across our real estate portfolio.”

In accordance with Target’s test-and-learn approach, the company will review expansion plans for these types of facilities as it works to expand its reach.

This past February, Target said it was investing  $100 million to expand next-day delivery capabilities to customers across major U.S. markets. 

Minneapolis-based Target Corp. is No. 6 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2023 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America, with nearly 2,000 locations. Birmingham, Ala.-based Shipt is an independently operated, wholly owned subsidiary of Target.

The largest U.S. Asian supermarket chain, H Mart, has plans to open its first store in Utah. Located just outside Salt Lake City, the new store will occupy the site of the old K-Mart at 1442 West and 9000 South in West Jordan.

Asians have become Utah’s fastest-growing minority population by percentage during the past decade, up 50%, as reported by The Salt Lake Tribune.

[Read more: “H Mart Expands Presence in New Jersey”]

According to ABC4.com, an opening date for the West Jordan location has not been yet revealed, though a representative for the supermarket chain said that the chain is hoping to have the store open by the end of the year.

Rapidly growing H Mart reportedly also has plans to open new stores in Sacramento, Calif.; Dallas; and Las Vegas. In addition, the company said in May that a location in Brookline, Mass., is “coming soon.”

Founded in 1982 in the New York City borough of Queens, H Mart offers a full line of Asian foods as well as a broad range of Western groceries to complement its full-scale offering, which includes many items found in a traditional supermarket. The popular Asian grocer is also known for its innovative food halls.

Based in Lyndhurst, N.J., H Mart operates approximately 100 stores across 14 states. The company is No. 82 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2023 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. 

Pop Up Grocer is on a summer road trip. As consumers are out and about more and embark on vacations, the discovery destination specializing in curated assortments in temporary sites is co-locating with another retailer.

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The specialty retail business announced that Pop Up Grocer will welcome shoppers at Nordstrom department stores in eight U.S. cities: New York City; Seattle; Chicago; Costa Mesa, Calif.; Century City, Calif.; San Jose, Calif.; McLean, Va.; and Austin, Texas. All locations will be open by July 7, right around the time when Nordstrom holds its annual anniversary sale, and will purvey a variety of artisan-style snacks and drinks.

Since Pop Up Grocer launched in 2019, the business has set up shop at nine short-term spots around the United States. In March, founder Emily Schildt opened the first 1,500-square-foot permanent store in New York City at 205 Bleecker Street in Manhattan.

KeHE Distributors LLC has completed its earlier revealed acquisition of DPI Specialty Foods, an Ontario, Calif.-based distributor in key geographic locations across the western United States. 

“Combining KeHE and DPI’s long histories of success and pre-eminent category expertise will enable retailers to respond more quickly to customer demand, offer additional supplier opportunities and deliver enhanced consumer experiences,” said Deb Conklin, president and CEO of Naperville, Ill.-based KeHE. “Both of our organizations share an obsession for our partners, a deep commitment to our people, a focus on serving others, and financial and operational performance. This transaction represents an opportunity to capitalize on the strengths of both organizations and  become an even greater force for good.”

The transaction aims to widen KeHE’s customer base and bolsters its existing warehouse infrastructure. The combined capabilities include more than 31,000 customers, 80,000-plus SKUs, 6,100 suppliers, and 7 million square feet of warehouse space across all temperature zones in 19 distribution centers. Additionally, DPI suppliers and retailers will gain access to KeHE’s business intelligence tools, including the KeHE Connect platform, which provides suppliers with sales-reporting, business analytics and data visualization services to help drive scalable success. KeHE and DPI will continue to operate as separate entities while they work to implement an integration plan. 

BMO Capital Markets Corp. was the exclusive financial advisor to KeHE, while Winston & Strawn LLP was the company’s legal counsel.

A Certified B Corporation and employee-owned company, KeHE distributes fresh, natural and organic, and specialty products to natural food stores, chain and independent grocery stores, e-commerce retailers, and other specialty products retailers throughout North America. 

Circana, formerly NPD and IRI, has launched Circana Lift for Snap Inc., creator of Snapchat. Circana Lift enables CPG manufacturers and retailers to accurately measure how their Snapchat advertising campaigns drive offline sales, providing invaluable insights into campaign effectiveness.

Circana Lift offers advertisers the ability to answer key performance questions related to ad campaign efficacy and efficiency and drive tangible business outcomes. With this measurement solution, advertisers can determine whether their campaigns effectively increase incremental purchases, attract new households, and encourage households that viewed the ads to spend more per purchase.

“Marketing to customers is a multifaceted challenge and assessing the success of digital advertising campaigns in driving in-store sales has remained a significant obstacle for advertisers,” said Amy Marentic, president, Global Solutions, Chicago-based Circana. “Our partnership with Snap bridges the gap between online media exposure and offline sales lift, empowering advertisers to unlock the true potential of their advertising efforts and drive measurable results in today's complex and competitive market.”

Circana Lift seamlessly integrates Circana’s extensive point-of-sale, frequent shopper, causal, and media exposure data, empowering marketers to analyze actual in-store sales lift impact in real time throughout a campaign. By leveraging data from loyalty card programs, Circana’s proprietary shopper panel, and various other data assets at the SKU and shopper level, Circana Lift enables advertisers to make data-driven decisions and drive sales in real time.

"We understand how crucial it is for CPG brands to precisely evaluate their advertising campaigns' effectiveness. That's why we're teaming up with Circana, aiding these vital advertisers in optimizing their Snapchat campaigns for more efficient and impactful results," stated Christopher Plambeck, VP of marketing science at Santa Monica, Calif.-based Snap Inc.