Meijer is turning to a neighbor to provide its customers with sustainably produced greens. The Grand Rapids, Mich.-based retailer has teamed up with Revolution Farms, based in nearby Caledonia, to widen its offering of hydroponically grown lettuce products.

Revolution Farms’ offerings, including lettuce and salad greens, will now be sold in all 262 Meijer locations. The products are grown using 90% less water, 90% less land and 95% closer to shoppers’ homes and are packaged onsite within a couple of days of harvest.

In another facet of the partnership, Revolution Farms is growing the lettuce for the retailer’s “Fresh from Meijer” salad kits. The kits are available in several varieties including Caesar, Cobb, Harvest, Southwest and BLT.

“Supporting local farms and carrying the freshest, most nutritious ingredients is important to us and to our customers,” said Sarah Jennings, Meijer’s produce buyer. “As a Michigan family company, we are committed to being good stewards of our community by not only constantly enhancing our own sustainable practices, but also by using our shelves as a platform to promote brands that share our passion.”

John Green, founder and CEO of Revolution Farms, noted the companies’ plans and goals are aligned. “Food tastes better when it’s grown closer to you. Meijer is our hometown retail partner, so partnering with them to expand their local greens selection, as well as growing the lettuce for their salad kits, will help more families easily find sustainably grown, nutrient-rich greens. Our recent greenhouse expansion has given us the ability to grow even more lettuce varieties, as well as become a Meijer Fresh partner.”

Meijer operates supercenters and grocery stores throughout Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and Wisconsin. It is No. 20 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2022 list of the top food retailers in North America.

Just in time for summer, the Heinen's store in downtown Cleveland is serving up cool treats. The grocer is teaming up with Mitchell's Homemade Ice Cream to add an in-store ice cream shop in the historic building’s scenic rotunda.

Beginning on May 23, customers can order cones and dishes of ice cream at the newly-installed stand. More than two dozen varieties will be available, including seasonal flavors and some vegan choices.

The Ohio-based Mitchell’s is a local ice cream maker that won the 2019 Heinen’s customer favorite local product award. After a social-distancing shuttering during the early days of the pandemic, Heinen’s reopened its rotunda and second floor balcony in 2021, offering wines and beers on tap and other prepared foods that can be enjoyed in a sit-down space.

Warrensville Heights, Ohio-based Heinen’s was founded in 1929 in Shaker Heights, Ohio. The store operates 23 locations with 19 stores in the Cleveland area and four in the North Shore suburbs of Chicago.

In line with the most recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance, Hy-Vee Inc. pharmacies will administer free Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine booster doses to children between the ages of 5 and 11. The immunizations are by appointment only and can only be given at least five months after their second dose.

A parent or guardian must be present at the appointment and give their consent for the vaccine booster, which will be administered at pharmacy hubs during specific times in order to create a more child-friendly environment.

Employee-owned Hy-Vee has a team of more than 93,000 employees and operates over 280 retail stores across eight states. The West Des Moines, Iowa-based company is No. 30 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2022 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. 

Southeastern Grocers and its shoppers showed their generosity during a recent register campaign that netted $395,000 for children’s hospitals. Since its launch last year, the program has raised more than $856,900.

Southeastern Grocers partnered with nine pediatric health care facilities across its footprint for the three-week campaign, timed for National Cancer Research Month. The funds from the donation effort will be used for initiatives including research, family support, child advocacy, therapeutic activities and pediatric specialties.

“We are amazed time and time again by the incredible generosity displayed by our associates and customers who continually lift up their neighbors in need, and we are inspired by their kindness. Our children’s hospital partners do incredible work every day to positively impact the lives of their youngest patients and families by providing not only resources, but hope, when it is needed most,” said Anthony Hucker, president and CEO of Southeastern Grocers.

The Jacksonville, Fla.-based company's hospital partners includeWolfson Children’s Hospital in Jacksonville, Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, Golisano Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida in Fort Myers, Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami, Studer Family Children’s Hospital in Pensacola, as well as Children’s of Alabama in Birmingham, Ala., Children’s of Mississippi in Gulfport, Miss., and Ochsner Hospital for Children in New Orleans, La.

Southeastern Grocers is one of the largest conventional supermarket companies in the U.S., with grocery stores, liquor stores and in-store pharmacies serving communities throughout Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi. Its banners include Fresco y Más, Harveys Supermarket and Winn-Dixie grocery stores. The company is No. 39 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer's 2022 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.

Carl Greeley, onetime owner of Baltimore-area independent Geresbeck’s Food Market, died on May 17. He was 92 years old. No cause of death was given.

Greeley opened his first store, Foodland, in the Orchard Beach community of Pasadena, Md., in 1971, according to the Pasadena Voice in 2019, which noted that he later opened a few Box & Save stores and went on to acquire Geresbeck’s Food Market, in Baltimore, in 1985, retaining the name because it was well known to local residents. Greeley’s daughter, Joanne Greeley Graham, later took the helm of the independent supermarket company, which currently consists of three stores in Baltimore, Pasadena and Glen Burnie, Md.

Besides Graham, survivors include Greeley’s wife, Josephine Greeley, three other daughters, two brothers, 10 grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.A funeral mass will be held at Saint Mark Catholic Church, in Fallston, Md., on Monday, May 23, at 10 a.m., with interment at Highview Memorial Gardens, also in Fallston. For those unable to attend in person, the mass will be livestreamed on the St. Mark Fallston Facebook page.

“Mr. Greeley was one of the ‘old local grocers’ in the Baltimore area – a title that few people can still claim, from a generation that focused on the local neighborhood and knew most customers by name,” noted local grocery industry observer Jeremey Diamond. “Even in his 90s, he was tending to his three grocery stores, currently operated by the next generation.”

Weis Markets Inc. is making a multimillion-dollar investment to lower prices on hundreds of its best-selling frozen products as an expansion of the grocer’s Low, Low Price (LLP) program. The lower pricing includes brand-name and Weis Quality products.

The LLP program began in 2019 and encompasses more than 7,000 grocery products and nearly 80 produce items.

“We will offer customers in the markets we serve the lowest everyday prices on hundreds of our best-selling frozen items,” said Bob Gleeson, Weis’ SVP of merchandising and marketing. “Given recent increases in consumer costs, saving money is extremely important to our customers, and we are confident these reductions will generate significant savings for them. Since 2019, our LLP program has helped customers save approximately $10 million dollars. They’ll now save millions more in our frozen department.”

The LLP frozen program reduces prices by 13%-33% on select items, among them Birdseye Steamfresh frozen vegetables (12-16 ounces); Klondike Ice Cream bars, sandwiches and cones (14-17 ounces); Digiorno frozen pizzas; and Marie Callender’s dinners

Founded in 1912, Sunbury, Pa.-based Weis is a Mid-Atlantic food retailer operating 196 stores in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York West Virginia and Virginia. The company is No. 61 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2022 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. PG also named it as one of the Top 10 Regional Operators to Watch in 2022.