If the sky is big in Texas, so is the grocery landscape. One new addition is an Albertsons location set to open by the end of the year in the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) metroplex.

According to officials in Irving, Texas, the latest Albertsons grocery store will be housed in a shopping center at 2200 West Shady Grove Road in the south part of that city. After a Fiesta Mart closed at the 50,000-square-foot site a couple of years ago, local residents lobbied community leaders to bring in another banner to improve access to groceries and household supplies.

Based on a report on the City of Irving website, at least $250,000 will be spent to upgrade the interior and exterior of the location. The project marks Albertsons’ return to Irving after 15 years; the chain currently operates 32 stores in the greater DFW market.

That market is getting hot for food retailers. H-E-B is in the process of building new stores in nearby Frisco, Plano and McKinney that will open later this year and into 2023, and Whole Foods is adding a location at a new mixed-use development in McKinney.

Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons operates more than 2,200 retail stores with 1,700-plus pharmacies, 400 associated fuel centers, 22 distribution centers and 20 manufacturing facilities. It has stores across 34 states and the District of Columbia under more than 20 banners. Albertsons is No. 8 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2021 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. With approximately 400 stores in Texas and Mexico, San Antonio-based H-E-B is No. 13 on The PG 100. Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods has more than 500 stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, and is No. 26 on The PG 100.

Mark Irby was elected to the Publix Super Markets board of directors during the grocer’s annual stockholders’ meeting on April 12. Irby began working in the sign shop at Publix in 1973 and retired earlier this year after most recently serving as VP of marketing.

“We congratulate Mark on his election to the board,” said Ed Crenshaw, board chairman. “His extensive experience in helping build and promote our Publix brand will bring a valuable perspective.”

Employee-owned and -operated, Lakeland, Fla.-based Publix has more than 1,200 stores in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia. The grocer is No. 11 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2021 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. 

In a move that will create the largest rooftop solar installation in the state of New Hampshire, Associated Grocers of New England (AGNE)has partnered with ReVision Energy to outfit its Pembroke distribution center with solar energy that will help power its operations.

The 50,000-square-foot distribution center employs a 1MW SolarEdge DC-optimized array that should offset approximately 20% of its annual energy consumption, which will lend itself to a return on investment of less than nine years and will reduce carbon emissions by approximately 1,100 tons per year.

The solar project is part of a wider sustainability initiative being undertaken by the co-op and steered forward by the Associated Grocers Green Awareness Committee. The company hopes to expand its use of solar energy in the future.

“Once we started looking at solar, we quickly saw it was a no-brainer,” said Tommy Coyle, marketing media specialist for AGNE. “We spoke to six installers but found ReVision Energy to be the most straight-forward company to deal with. Added to that, the SolarEdge system it proposed offered the fastest ROI. That was an important factor in getting the AGNE board to sign off on the project.”

AGNE is the largest retailer-owned wholesale grocery distribution center in New England, serving over 650 independent retail stores across the region, as well as upstate New York.

C&S Wholesale Grocers Inc. has chosen NielsenIQ Brandbank as its sole provider of digital product content to power planogram solutions, mid-aisle product ordering and digital and print production, among other use cases.

Through NielsenIQ Brandbank’s product imagery and trusted product attribution, C&S will have the ability to support its customers with product identification, interaction and ordering. Contracted NielsenIQ Brandbank suppliers can also have their approved digital product content syndicated to C&S Wholesale and its retail partners at no additional cost.

“C&S Wholesale Grocers are an industry leader and an innovator in the CPG industry, and we are proud that NielsenIQ Brandbank’s trusted product content will be a foundation of their digital strategy,” said Roy Woodhouse, North America commercial lead at NielsenIQ Brandbank. “Building their retailer portal into a shop window for their product assortment will only support wider distribution and, ultimately, shopper engagement, for more products; this is really exciting.”

Founded in 1918 as a supplier to independent grocery stores, Keene, N.H.-based C&S Wholesale Grocers now services customers of all sizes, supplying more than 7,500 independent supermarkets, chain stores, military bases and institutions with 100,000-plus products. The company is No. 16 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2021 list of the top retailers of food and consumables in North America.

Big Y Foods has revealed plans to build a new-concept Big Y Express Fresh Market at 1500 Main Street as part of the Tower Square development in the grocer’s hometown of Springfield, Mass. The 10,000-square-foot location will be tailored to fit the needs of the city’s downtown area, where workers and area residents have not previously had access to convenient options that are nutritious and affordable.

The small-format market will carry an assortment of items from each grocery store department. Offerings will include high-quality prepared meals and sandwiches, as well as natural and organic products and everyday staples. There will also be an in-house sushi chef preparing fresh items daily.

“We are excited to bring an entirely new concept to downtown Springfield,” Colin D’Amour, senior director Big Y Express, the company’s gas and convenience division. “We know that there has been an appetite for Big Y’s fresh and local foods for many years now. We are confident that customers will enjoy our many offerings. We are working diligently with our contractors to establish a timeline for opening and are excited to be a part of the downtown community.”

A company spokesman told Progressive Grocer that Big Y would begin construction on the new store in either the third or fourth quarter of this year, with the goal of an opening sometime in 2023.

The grocer also recently wrapped up renovations of its Big Y at Fresh Acres in Springfield. Since it opened in 2006, Fresh Acres has served as Big Y’s testing site for innovative concepts that are then rolled out across the entire supermarket chain.

Big Y operates 85 locations throughout Massachusetts and Connecticut, including 71 supermarkets, Table & Vine Fine Wines and Liquors, and 13 Big Y Express gas and convenience locations, with almost 12,000 employees. The company is No. 76 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2021 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America

Experience-first grocery store Pop Up Grocer will come to Washington, D.C., this spring. 

From May 6 through June 5, the retailer will host in-person shopping at the city’s Union Market, on 1262 5th Street NE, with more than 120 emerging brands and 400 better-for-you products to discover and experience. Among the offerings, spanning food, beverages and personal care, will be nationally available and direct-to-consumer brands such as Bonbuz, Opopop and Nowadays, as well as local suppliers like District Snacks, Amazi and Phil’s Finest.

“We’re excited to return to the East Coast and to open in the Union Market District, specifically,” said Emily Schildt, founder of New York-based Pop Up Grocer, which, since it began in 2019, has also set up temporary operations in the Big Apple; Chicago; Los Angeles; Austin, Texas; and Miami. “Anchored by what is arguably the culinary destination in D.C., the neighborhood is alive with creativity. D.C.’s food scene has become a national treasure. Over the past decade, there’s been a wave of risk-taking chefs opening new concepts, alongside tenured fine dining and real-deal ethnic restaurants. It’s an honor to contribute to D.C.’s innovative spirit, if only for a brief period of time.” 

The temporary store will be open seven days a week, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Last December, the roving grocery business tracked trends on the horizon and in the rear-view mirror in its “2022 Food Trend Report.”