News Briefs

Canada’s T&T Supermarkets recently opened the doors to its newest location, in the Sage Hill neighborhood of Calgary, Alberta.

Located at 10 Sage Hill Plaza NW, the Asian supermarket chain’s latest store is the fourth for the city of Calgary. The 45,000-square-foot location features a wide assortment of Asian snacks and holiday gift sets, produce, live seafood, bakery and self-serve hot meal options. Customers can also shop for T&T Supermarkets’ 400 private label products, including cookware and comfort foods like dumplings and green onion pancakes.

[Read more: “Canada’s Largest Asian Supermarket Chain Positioned for More Growth”]

The Sage Hill location is the first in Calgary to offer customers a dessert bar, with offerings like brown sugar bubble tea, shaved snow ice cream, and grass jelly with taro mix.

The new store also features a custom mural that celebrates an artistic mix of the city’s landmarks and iconic T&T Supermarkets foods that represent Asian culture.

Shoppers at Sage Hill can take advantage of T&T Rewards and online shopping for home delivery at www.tntsupermarket.com and the T&T mobile app. 

One-hundred and fifty new associates were hired as part of the in-store team.

The largest Asian supermarket chain in Canada, T&T Supermarkets operates stores in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario, and will soon open its first store in Quebec, Montreal. T&T Supermarkets was founded in Vancouver in 1993 and is now led by second-generation successor and CEO Tina Lee. The food retailer has its headquarters in Richmond, British Columbia, with offices in Toronto.

“Ultrafast” grocery delivery platform Getir has acquired Berlin-based on-demand delivery company Gorillas. According to Getir, the move underscores how it leads consolidation in the quick-commerce sector.

“Markets go up and down, but consumers love our service, and convenience is here to stay,” noted Nazim Salur, founder of Istanbul-based Getir. “The super-fast grocery delivery industry will steadily grow for many years to come, and Getir will lead this category it created seven years ago.” 

Founded in 2015 and currently operating in nine countries across three continents, Getir became Europe’s first grocery delivery decacorn – a venture-backed private company with a value of more than $10 billion – earlier this year.

According to a report in The Financial Times, “people familiar with the terms” of the deal said that it values Gorillas at around $1.2 billion, down from $3 billion in September 2021. 

Earlier this year, Progressive Grocer reported on layoffs and closures among quick-commerce companies, noting that “[a] more hybrid approach to buying groceries, coupled with marketplace headwinds like labor scarcities, high prices, omnichannel competition and a rocky stock market, [is] contributing to pullbacks and changes from various platforms.” 

For its part, The Financial Times article noted that “as investors turned against loss-making tech startups, several smaller grocery apps have already shuttered or been sold, leaving Getir, U.S.-based Gopuff and Germany’s Flink as the last surviving big players in the sector.” 

The month of November saw a mixed bag as far as grocery prices were concerned, according to IRI’s "November 2022 Price Check: Tracking Retail Food and Beverage Inflation" report. While food and beverage prices for the month were up 0.3% compared to October, the increase is less than the 0.5% jump seen for the previous month, IRI found. 

Though overall food inflation grew 13.2% year over year, inflation in perimeter areas has moderated to 8.2% versus one year ago, and center store inflation leveled off in November to 14.9% year over year. Fresh meat and seafood rose 4.3% over October, though dairy was up 23.4% and bakery product inflation increased 18.4%.

[Read more: "Which CPG Categories Are Currently Experiencing the Most Inflation?"]

“The pace of food inflation is leveling off but remains at a robust 13% level versus one year ago,” said Krishnakumar (KK) Davey, president of thought leadership for CPG and retail at IRI and NPD. “IRI anticipates consumers will continue their trading down behavior over the December holidays and into the new year.”

Davey does believe, however, that some consumers will splurge on holiday food and beverages in certain segments. “Retailers and manufacturers with an in-depth understanding of consumer strategies have an excellent opportunity to build loyalty by offering products, price points and package sizes that provide good value,” Davey said.

Nearly three years after the novel coronavirus first made news, Walgreens is offering free delivery of the antiviral medication, Paxlovid. The retailer announced that it is teaming up with DoorDash and Uber to begin delivering the oral pills directly to consumers’ homes.

The service is now available to customers at more than 8,000 Walgreens locations that offer same-day delivery. To receive the therapy, eligible patients must first get a prescription for Paxlovid from a healthcare provider and then go online at Walgreens.com/PrescriptionDelivery to choose the delivery option.

[Read more: "Walgreens Eliminates Task-Based Metrics for Pharmacy Staff Reviews"]

Walgreens is making Paxlovid delivery possible as people gather more frequently during the holidays and during the time of year when illnesses tend to spread. The company cited its COVID-19 index data showing that overall COVID positivity rates are 36% this week.

Earlier this fall, following the urging of President Joe Biden to make COVID-19 treatment more accessible to vulnerable and underserved communities, the retailer announced its intent to offer free delivery of Paxlovid. “The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated health disparities and emphasized the need to address long-standing barriers, including access to treatments,” said Anita Patel, PharmD, VP, pharmacy services development at Walgreens. “Our pharmacy teams will continue to play a trusted and essential role in helping to keep people protected from COVID-19, including getting people vaccinated, tested and treated as safely, equitably and effectively as possible.”

Walgreens and Uber have partnered before to assist patients facing COVID-related accessibility challenges. The businesses created the Vaccine Access Fund aimed at connecting people from underserved areas to transportation to and from COVID-19 vaccination sites.

Deerfield, Ill.-based Walgreens, which operates nearly 9,000 retail locations across the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, is No. 5 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2022 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.

The struggle is real when it comes to inflation and grocery shopping, a new survey has found. According to research conducted by retail tech platform Swiftly, more than two-thirds of consumers say they are having a hard time paying their grocery bills and 74% have changed their grocery shopping habits in the past year.

Findings from Swiftly’s grocery-specific survey underscored the importance of loyalty programs and tools. An overwhelming 83% of respondents said they rely on coupons, rewards apps or other loyalty features while shopping. Nearly half (41%) are shopping based on discounts and promotions, and rewards apps are now used as often as paper coupons.

[Read more: "Supermarkets Accused of Digital Discrimination"]

As they capitalize on loyalty benefits and are adjusting their habits to save money, these shoppers are still out and about at their local retailer. Even in the omnichannel environment, 70% of survey participants reported that they prefer to shop in store at their local grocery store.

“The grocery sector is at a turning point. After massive e-commerce growth throughout the pandemic, we are beginning to see a transition as consumer spending is tested by inflation and a looming recession. Furthermore, the potential consolidation of giant supermarket chains could also lead to increased prices, which would be especially hard for consumers to absorb in today’s challenging economy,” observed Henry Kim, co-founder and CEO of Swiftly. “Findings from this survey amplify the need for today’s brick-and-mortar grocers to solidify and own digital customer relationships and modernize digital revenue streams, in order to be competitive and maintain a loyal customer base.”

While the overall pace of inflation slowed somewhat in October compared to previous months, the Consumer Price Index for food at home was 12.4% higher that month compared to October 2021. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics will release CPI data for November on Dec. 13.

Alisa Gmelich has joined Sprouts Farmers Market as the grocer’s new SVP, chief marketing officer. Gmelich will be responsible for overseeing marketing, advertising and customer engagement, and will report directly to President and COO Nick Konat.

Gmelich most recently served as chief brand officer at Auntie Anne’s, and previously spent 15 years in the restaurant industry with companies including IHOP and Burger King.

[Read more: "It's Go Time at Sprouts Farmers Market"]

“I am extremely humbled to join Sprouts, a brand that I’ve long admired for innovation and purpose,” said Gmelich. “Providing communities access to healthy, affordable foods is more important today than ever before, and I look forward to helping the brand connect even further with customers nationwide in meaningful ways with the products they need and desire.”

“We’re thrilled to welcome Alisa to the Sprouts team,” said Konat. “Her experience in building brands and growing customer engagement will be instrumental in shaping Sprouts’ marketing strategy to support our expansion and deepen loyalty with our customers.”

Phoenix-based Sprouts Farmers Market employs approximately 31,000 associates and operates approximately 380 stores in 23 states nationwide. The company is No. 53 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2022 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.