Publix has topped the 1,300-store mark with the opening of three new locations in the Sunshine State.

A new 46,811-square-foot store opened on Aug. 4 in the fast-growing community of Crawfordville, south of Tallahassee. Publix store #1798 offers the chain’s typical grocery and fresh food assortment, including a broad section of grab-and-go cut fruit containers, ready-to-heat prepared meals, a large bulk foods area and hot sandwiches and desserts from the expansive bakery, among a slew of other items. The Crawfordville Publix at 2343 Crawfordville Highway will be staffed by a team of about 150 associates and managers.

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On Aug. 11, the grocer unveiled a location in Jacksonville at 2039 Hendricks Ave. at the Shoppes of East San Marco. The 39,029-square-foot store is the 15th Publix in Jacksonville and features a sleek café area, wide array of center-store, fresh and prepared foods and convenient lower-level parking, among other amenities.

Meanwhile, Publix celebrated the grand reopening of a location in Orlando on Aug. 13. Set in the Suncrest Village development at 10115 University Blvd., the 48,387-square-foot store has undergone an extensive transformation over the past year and offers a host of convenient solutions for shoppers, from rows of take-home meal kits to a full-service seafood counter stocked with several varieties of fresh fish and shellfish.

The new Publix stores in Florida are open daily from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. and offer self-checkout and grocery pickup and delivery. Pharmacy hours vary.

Employee-owned and -operated Publix has supermarkets in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia. The Lakeland, Fla.-based Publix is No. 12 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2022 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.

Festival Foods cut the ribbon on its 40th Wisconsin store last week with a new location in Hartford. The 69,000-square-foot store includes a drive-thru for Click N Go online shopping pickup, a first-of-its-kind Caribou Coffee location and the chain’s traditional departments.

“Our goal is to provide an enjoyable shopping experience for every Festival Foods guest,” said Mark Skogen, president and CEO of Festival Foods. “It’s an honor to join the Hartford community, and we’re looking forward to providing our newest guests with excellent product quality and exceptional value.”

Last October, the grocer revealed plans to buy Trig’s stores in Wausau, Weston and Stevens Point, Wis., from the T.A. Solberg Co. With the new location, those acquired stores and the existing Festival Foods supermarkets in the state, the chain’s total store count sits at 40.

De Pere, Wis.-based Festival Foods, an employee- and family-owned company, operates stores throughout Wisconsin. It is No. 93 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer's 2022 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.

Lidl US will hold the grand opening of its newest store on New York’s Long Island, in Commack, on Wednesday, Aug. 31, during which local leaders will participate in a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 7:40 a.m. The store, at 210 East Jericho Turnpike, will operate daily from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. The deep-discount grocer invested more than $7 million in the site. 

The store will provide  more than 50 jobs, with starting pay for all associates at $17.50 per hour, which includes comprehensive benefits. Lidl offers health care for all full-and-part-time positions, regardless of hours worked per week.   

At the grand-opening celebrations, customers will be able to take advantage of limited-time special offers at the new store. The first 100 customers in line before the ribbon cutting will receive a special gift card ranging from $5 to $100 each. Shoppers can also enter to win a $500 Lidl gift card, sample Lidl’s product assortment and receive special giveaways.  

The grocer is partnering with Long Island Cares to provide food to people in need in the community. Throughout the entire grand-opening weekend, Wednesday through Sunday, Lidl will donate $1 to the food bank for every new myLidl member who enrolls with Lidl Commack as their home store. 

The grocer’s last Long Island store opening in June in the town of West Hempstead. Other recent openings for the grocer include its first Baltimore location, while its inaugural Brooklyn, N.Y. store is slated to debut in 2024 in the Park Slope neighborhood. 

Neckarsulm, Germany-based Lidl operates around 11,550 stores and is active in 32 countries, employing more than 341,000 employees globally. With U.S. headquarters in Arlington, Va., the grocer operates about 170 stores in nine East Coast states. Lidl US is No. 89 on the PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2022 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.

Pittsburgh has a fresh Whole Foods Market. The natural products retailer opened a 54,557-square-foot store on Aug. 10 at 5700 Penn Avenue in the East Liberty neighborhood, replacing a nearby shuttered location at 5880 Centre Avenue.

Befitting its construction, the latest Whole Foods location features a sleek, modern design with nods to Pittsburgh’s local culture and sites. The shelves are stocked with items from 120 Pennsylvania vendors chosen by the chain’s regional foragers, spanning locally produced fruits and vegetables, meat, seafood and artisan goods. As with other Whole Foods stores, the East Liberty market features a full-service meat counter, a full-service seafood counter, specialty food cases, a bakery, a beer and wine department, a full-service coffee bar, and a prepared food area.

Marking the opening, Whole Foods is giving $5,000 to a local community garden and donating $10,000 to other nearby nonprofit organizations that support community food systems, education and leadership development programs.

Grocery pickup will be available at the new Pittsburgh store. Shoppers who are Amazon Prime members can access deep discounts on select products every week and score an additional 10% off hundreds of in-store sale items.

The first certified-organic national grocer, 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.

Extreme-value retailer Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. has teamed up with DoorDash to offer on-demand grocery delivery from more than 398 Grocery Outlets locations across the country. Now DoorDash customers can order groceries on-demand from local Grocery Outlet stores through the DoorDash marketplace app or website.

“DoorDash is committed to providing customers with all the selection they crave at affordable prices, in a way that’s convenient for them and their families,” said Shanna Prevé, VP, business development at San Francisco-based DoorDash. “As consumers face rising prices, we’re thrilled to partner with Grocery Outlet to provide consumers across the country with a new way to purchase more affordable groceries while maximizing their budgets. With this partnership, consumers can find and enjoy even more affordable grocery selection on our marketplace.” 

“Our partnership with DoorDash will help save shoppers time and money,” noted Grocery Outlet CEO Eric Lindberg. “In addition to bringing more of our great products direct to consumers, our DoorDash partnership will help Grocery Outlet reach more customers with great prices during a time where every penny counts.”

All participating Grocery Outlet stores will be available on DashPass, DoorDash’s membership program that offers members free delivery from thousands of restaurants, grocery and convenience stores nationwide. DashPass members receive these benefits on all eligible orders of $35 or more from Grocery Outlet.

Further, as part of the Summer of DashPass five weeks of DashPass member-only offers, from Aug. 18 to Aug. 24, DashPass members will get 30% off Grocery Outlet orders of $40 or more, up to a total value of $20. 

This past May, Grocery Outlet teamed with Uber to pilot on-demand and scheduled grocery delivery at 72 Grocery Outlet stores across California, Oregon and Washington, including in the cities of Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento, Palo Alto and Sunnyvale. 

Emeryville, Calif.-based Grocery Outlet offers products sold through a network of independently operated stores at more than 420 stores in California, Washington, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Idaho, Nevada, New Jersey and Maryland. The company is No. 70 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2022 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.

Midwestern grocer Hy-Vee will hold a product and services showcase next month in an effort to help advance local minority- and women-owned companies. The Hy-Vee OpportUNITY Inclusive Business Summit, set to take place Sept. 27 in Kansas City, Mo., will offer resources, learning opportunities and networking for small-business owners.

Local minority- and women-owned businesses are invited to apply for the opportunity to showcase their products or services during a pitch competition at the summit. Selected applicants will present to a panel of judges for the chance to win up to $30,000. 

Submissions for local products or services are being accepted on Hy-Vee’s website through Sept. 1 in the following categories: food and beverage, product innovation and technology, and health, wellness and beauty.

Employee-owned Hy-Vee operates more than 285 retail stores across eight Midwestern states and has a team of more than 93,000 employees. 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.