With Farm Fresh Sale, Supervalu Moving Closer To Goal Of Becoming Primarily A Wholesaler
“Over the past two years, we’ve been working diligently and rapidly to transform our business to become the wholesale supplier of choice for grocery retailers across the United States. In 2016, we sold Save-A-Lot and its network of approximately 1,350 retail locations. Last year, we acquired Unified Grocers and Associated Grocers of Florida, which when combined with substantial organic growth, added more than $5 billion in run rate sales to bring our core wholesale business to nearly $13 billion.”
Those were the comments of Supervalu chief executive Mark Gross on March 14 after his company announced the sale of 21 stores and subsequent withdrawal of Farm Fresh Supermarkets from the Tidewater region of Virginia. After the sale of Save-A-Lot 15 months ago, Supervalu began tackling an even tougher mission – dismantling most or all of its 215 store corporately-owned network.
Five different banners in unaligned markets, with stores as large as 75,000 square feet and as small as 30,000 square feet; some regional chains are unionized, some are not. Throw in the fact that most of the stores have not received any capital investment in more than a decade and operate in highly competitive and overstored markets, finding buyers for these often-second-rate units was going to be challenging from the outset, especially when considering how few active buyers exist today in the entire industry.
In announcing, the long-expected news (a prospectus about Farm Fresh was issued last year), Gross also noted: “Exiting the Farm Fresh banner will enable us to allocate greater resources and energy toward the strategic growth of our wholesale business. We also continue to aggressively pursue other important initiatives, including the monetization of real estate through sale leaseback transactions and cost reduction across the company. We are confident our efforts are driving growth and enhancing our competitive position. This decision was not taken lightly given the impact on our employees and the communities we serve, but we strongly believe this decision is in the best long-term financial and strategic interest of our business. Our leadership team and board of directors remain committed to taking proactive steps to transform our business and drive stockholder value.”
Here are the nuts and bolts of the sale: Supervalu entered into three separate definitive agreements to sell 21 of its 38 Farm Fresh Food & Pharmacy stores for approximately $43 million in cash to two different retailers that operate three different banners: Kroger/Harris Teeter and Food Lion.
Of the 21 stores that are included in the agreement, 10 stores are being sold to Harris Teeter, including six in-store pharmacies and three fuel centers; eight stores are being sold to Kroger’s Mid-Atlantic division, including eight in-store pharmacies and four fuel centers; and three stores are being sold to Food Lion, including three in-store pharmacies.
Supervalu is also continuing discussions and exploring potential transactions to sell the remaining Farm Fresh stores to current and prospective wholesale customers and certain Farm Fresh employees.
“We are thankful for the tremendous service our employees have delivered at Farm Fresh through the years, and are grateful for the opportunities we’ve had to share in the lives and special events of our customers and employees across the Hampton Roads, Richmond, Williamsburg, and Elizabeth City (NC) communities,” said Anne Dament, executive VP of retail, marketing and private brands. “We are working with the buyers to ensure a smooth transition and we expect them to offer positions to many Farm Fresh employees. In addition, we plan to offer eligible employees severance and other job transition support.”
With regards to Farm Fresh pharmacies not included in these transactions, Supervalu has entered into agreements to transfer pharmacy prescription files to other pharmacies in the area. Prescription files from 10 pharmacies will be transferred to Rite Aid and four to CVS Pharmacy.
What Supervalu reaped from the deal wasn’t surprising when all factors are considered. It sold slightly more than half of the stores that were available. Because of the nature of the buyers, who all operate their own distribution centers, there will be no contingent supply agreement accompanying this transaction.
Since negotiations are continuing to sell the remaining 17 stores, there is a chance a handful could be sold to independent or ethnic operators who could agree to be supplied from Supervalu’s Mechanicsville, VA warehouse.
You can logically argue that the 3,300 Farm Fresh employees who are impacted by this decision deserved a better fate. They did. It wasn’t that long ago that the wisdom and leadership begun by the late Gene Walters and carried on successfully by Ron Dennis helped make Farm Fresh one of the best regional supermarket chains in the country. But, sadly that now seems like ancient history.
Mark Gross is on a highly-focused mission to turn around Supervalu. Improvements are already apparent – the culture (helped by previous CEO Sam Duncan) is now solid, and wholesale growth (measuring comps, new customers and acquisitions) has increased significantly. But along the path towards ultimate success, there are always tough choices to make.
Farm Fresh is the most difficult decision Gross has had to make in his two years at the helm. Remember, the first cut is the deepest.
Jim Donald’s Career Comes Full Circle As He Returns To Albertsons As President, COO
I’ve communicated with Jim Donald quite a bit over the past six months. Beyond our normal conversational tone of mutual needling and self-deprecation, I was convinced that one of the industry’s greatest motivators had finally hung up his apron and was content to sit on a few boards and continue to deliver speeches in upbeat and storytelling manner (after all, not every non-grocery industry group has heard Donald’s “salmon” yarn).
While his exuberance was still very apparent, he also told me several times he was a bit weary from the more than 40 years of high-level game action and was enjoying his lifestyle of travel and control of his own destiny.
Then Albertsons CEO Bob Miller called. If Jim Donald is the retail food industry’s version of the Energizer Bunny, then Miller is the best salesman and recruiter in the business.
Miller just helped engineer the biggest industry deal of the new year in fusing his $60 billion supermarket organization with Rite Aid Corp., the nation’s third largest drug chain who was discreetly seeking a partner after selling about 45 percent of its stores to Walgreens late last year.
The fit between the two companies was already a strong one with Miller having previously served as Rite Aid’s CEO and board member. Miller was also close to Rite Aid chief executive John Standley (who will become CEO of the newly combined company when the deal is completed later this year), having worked with him at Fred Meyer, Pathmark and at the Camp Hill, PA drug chain.
With much of the focus on the acquisition, there would have to be some shoring up at Albertsons, too. The company’s most recent president and COO Wayne Denningham retired at the end of last year and Miller, who will become chairman of the new enterprise, clearly needed a dependable and proven executive to guide the company’s 2,300 supermarkets.
Miller and Donald’s relationship dates back more than 40 years. After a few years working for Publix in his native Tampa, FL, Donald joined Albertsons where he stayed for 16 years advancing his career primarily in Florida and Texas. In 1991, Sam Walton reached out Donald and asked if he’d be interested in heading a new concept at the Bentonville, AR company- the company’s fledgling SuperCenter division. Donald remembers those days as extremely exciting and very exhausting.
In 1994, he was recruited by another Hall of Famer – Steve Burd – to run Safeway’s Eastern division, a unit that for decades had served as a stopover for more than 10 Safeway executives as they ultimately advanced their careers in other markets for the big chain. Donald’s career at Safeway was much different than almost all of the others (the exception being the great Don Smith who helmed the Eastern division in the early 1980s). Donald’s tireless work ethic was quickly apparent; he made it a priority to engage with the associates, from store level to the third shift in the warehouse. He was a difference maker.
A few years later, Jim Donald was presented with an opportunity to finally run his own show, although the showroom was hardly in great shape. I can vividly remember dining with Jim 22 years ago at a great Italian restaurant in Baltimore when he shared with me the opportunity to become CEO of Pathmark. Even though I knew he wanted the challenge of heading his own company, he asked me what I thought about the opportunity to run a once great regional supermarket chain that had been financially decimated by the greenmail actions of the Haft family several years earlier. As part of my reporting duties, I knew Pathmark well and encouraged Jim to take the job even if it came with some risk. Donald was the right age, had the proper training and necessary experience – his time to lead was at hand.
He did a fine job at the Carteret, NJ-based chain for six years, instilling his unique personal brand of leadership which changed the culture and financially stabilized an organization that had endured 44 consecutive quarters of negative comps prior to Donald’s arrival (Pathmark was sold to A&P in 2007; today neither chain exists).
In 2002, Donald got a call from Howard Schultz, founder, chairman and CEO of Starbucks. He successfully pitched Jim on joining the iconic coffee merchant as president of the company’s North American division. Three years later he was named chief executive with Schultz remaining as chairman.
He stayed as CEO for three years, before being summarily ousted by Schultz as Starbucks was victimized by a declining economy which led to significant decrease in the company’s stock price and overall value.
I talked to Donald shortly after his dismissal. I was expecting to hear some bitterness in his voice, but he would have none of that. Instead he noted that Howard Schultz founded the company and remained his boss, so he could do what he wanted. In fact, he praised Schultz for giving him the opportunity to head such a dynamic and innovative company such as Starbucks.
In truth, Jim Donald’s firing was the best thing that could have happened to his career. His six- year stint in Seattle put his name on the road map of corporate America; he was now a known entity especially on Wall Street.
His ability to take the high road even in challenging times and also learn from his all-star mentors – Miller, Walton, Burd and Schultz – would create future opportunities that even Donald couldn’t have predicted.
For the next year, Jim devoted a lot of energy to developing a career as a speaker while also serving on several corporate boards. He also got involved with the Haggen family, which owned 33 stores in Washington and Oregon. Like many independent operators and small regional chains, Haggen was a company struggling with industry change and family-related challenges. Donald was brought in to change the culture and also to find a potential exit strategy for the high-end merchant. It took a couple of years, but Donald used his Wall Street connections to engineer the sale of Haggen to private equity firm Comvest.
A year later, his Wall Street contacts provided him with a unique opportunity. Private equity firms Blackstone Group, Centerbridge Partners and Paulson & Co. acquired residential hotel chain Extended Stay while it was in bankruptcy in 2010. After 18 months of less than desired results, the three PE firms hired Donald as chief executive, even though he had little knowledge of the hotel business. It really didn’t matter, because once Jim learned the mechanics of the business, the one staple of any labor intensive retail business is the culture of the company and the associates who create that culture. It’s a people business – and Jim Donald by now was arguably the greatest practitioner of creating a workplace that was fun and interesting and one where management really did care about the associates. His door was always open.
By 2015, Extended Stay Hotels turnaround was obvious and it successful launched an IPO, which achieved the primary goal of its investors and allowed Jim to step down and seek his next opportunity.
Except this time, after more than two years as a free agent and several conversations about his future, I though he was really done with corporate life.
And then Bob Miller called.
Six Key Retailers Post Solid Comps, Most Show Share Price Gains, Too
Six of the country’s largest food retailers have posted increased comp sales and solid earnings in their most recent financial periods. Walmart, Ahold Delhaize, Kroger, Target, Costco and Publix have all enjoyed sales increases and many have seen their stock prices grow in recent months. And on a regional level, Weis Markets also achieved strong comp sales and increased earnings.
At Walmart, total revenue for its fourth quarter ended January 26, 2018 increased 4.1 percent to $136.3 billion. At its U.S. stores, comp sales increased 2.6 percent (excluding fuel) and comp traffic rose 1.6 percent. Its e-commerce business continued to grow rapidly, with the Bentonville, AR-based retailer reporting a 23 percent increase for its fourth quarter, which was less than Walmart’s spectacular 50 percent ecommerce revenue gain in its third period.
Consolidated operating income at Walmart was $4.5 billion, a decrease of 28 percent. However, the company said the earnings decline would have decreased less than 1 percent if certain “discrete” charges weren’t included. Some of those “discrete” items include restructuring charges, asset impairments and the awarding of lump sum bonuses.
“We have good momentum in the business with solid sales growth across Walmart U.S., Sam’s Club and international,” said Doug McMillon, president and CEO of Walmart. “We’re making real progress putting our unique assets to work this past year. We’re making decisions to position the business for success and investing to win with customers and shareholders.”
For fiscal 2018, total revenue at the company was $500.3 billion, an increase of $14.5 billion, or 3 percent. Excluding currency rate fluctuations, total revenue was $500.9 billion, an increase of $15.1 billion, or 3.1 percent.
For fiscal 2019, Walmart expects comp sales for the 52-week period, excluding fuel, to rise at a 2 percent rate, with e-commerce growth expected to grow approximately 40 percent. Capital expenditures are expected to be approximately $11 billion.
At presstime, Walmart’s shares were trading at $88.30, up from $79.68 six months ago.
After announcing “sales only” data last month, Ahold Delhaize posted a strong earnings performance during its fourth quarter ended December 31, 2017, completing its first year as a merged company.
“We delivered synergies ahead of schedule and continued to show underlying operating margin expansion, with stable or increasing market share in our major markets,” said CEO Dick Boer. “In a dynamic environment, our great local brands delivered strong results, tapping into changing consumer behavior.”
In the U.S., Ahold USA’s fourth quarter net sales increased 1.1 percent to $6.8 billion. Comparable store sales, excluding fuel, grew 0.6 percent.
During the quarter, Giant/Martin’s opened eight new in-store “Beer & Wine Eatery” locations, operating 54 of these establishments by year-end. Online grocer Peapod said it improved its customer satisfaction score by improving in the areas of on-time delivery, available delivery slots, in-stock items, value perception and the user-friendliness of its online portal.
Going forward, early this year, the Stop & Shop division will begin a pilot of its Scan it and Go payment solution, which will allow customers to make automatic bank withdrawals at checkout.
At its Delhaize America unit, comparable store revenue (excluding fuel) grew 1.5 percent, with both the Food Lion and Hannaford banners posting positive comp growth. Food Lion continued to benefit from its Easy, Fresh and Affordable store remodel program in the Charlotte, NC market last year and the Richmond and Greensboro, NC markets in 2018, the company said.
Food Lion completed the pilot of its Shop & Earn digital loyalty program which will roll out to all markets in the first quarter of this year. Hannaford’s My Rewards loyalty program became available chain-wide in January of this year. The banner also expanded its click-and-collect service.
In 2018, the Ahold USA and Delhaize America segments will be combined in financial reports, reflecting governance structure.
Said Boer: “We are investing to make shopping more convenient, introducing new technologies to improve the customer experience and further ease the checkout process, as we live up to our promise to be a better place to shop. We are also stepping up our focus on fresh inspiration as customers are increasing looking for healthier options, organic products and locally growth produce, which will help us to reach our target of 50 percent healthy products in own-brands sales by 2020.”
Ahold Delhaize, which trades on Euronext, reported a share price of 14.79 euro ($18.32) at presstime on March 14, versus 12.39 euro ($15.35) six months ago on September 14, 2017.
Kroger reported identical supermarket sales (without fuel) of 1.5 percent in its fourth quarter ended February 3, 2018. Total sales for the quarter increased 12.4 percent to $31 billion compared to $27.6 billion for the same period last year.
Rodney McMullen, chairman and CEO of the Cincinnati, OH based retailer, said: “We launched Restock Kroger in the fall of 2017 and finished this year with positive momentum in our sales and overall business. Customers are letting us know that they see, feel and appreciate our efforts to redefine the customer experience – and they are rewarding us with growing loyalty. This is the cycle that creates long-term value for shareholders.”
He continued: “The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is a catalyst that is enabling us to accelerate investments in Restock Kroger. We are taking a balanced approach to ensure tax reform benefits our associates, customers and shareholders. What we’ve previously said is that sharing the benefits with our associates and customers will create a more sustainable and stronger business model for the future. This balanced approach is also consistent with our values and Kroger’s purpose, to feed the human spirit.”
Net earnings for the fourth quarter totaled $854 million, or $0.96 per diluted share. Adjusted net earnings totaled $562 million, up from $506 million in the same period last year.
For the full fiscal year, Kroger’s net earnings totaled $1.9 billion, compared with $2.0 billion in 2016. Total sales in 2017 (excluding fuel, the 53rd week and merger expenses) rose 2.2 percent compared to 2016.
In its fourth quarter release, Kroger detailed its financial strategy of using its free cash flow to drive growth while also maintaining its current investment grade debt rating and returning capital to shareholders. It also announced that it had signed a definitive agreement to sell its convenience store division to UK-based EG Group for $2.15 billion. The Cincinnati-based merchant said that over the past year it has used cash to: contribute an incremental $1.2 billion pre-tax to company-sponsored pension plans and $467 million pre-tax to satisfy withdrawal obligations to the Central States Pension Fund; repurchase 61 million common shares for $6.1 billion; pay $444 million in dividends; and invest $3 billion in capital.
Kroger’s shares at presstime on March 14 were trading at $24.01 up from $21.26 on September 17, 2017.
At Target, strong traffic growth in both stores and digital drove a fourth quarter comparable sales increase of 3.6 percent. Despite solid sales increases, Target’s earnings were down from $1.34 billion to $1.15 billion in its fourth quarter ended January 28, 2018. However, on an adjusted basis, the Minneapolis, MN based mass merchant said earnings per share were $2.02 as compared to $1.45 in 2017.
Traffic grew 3.2 percent in Target’s fourth quarter, reflecting healthy increases in both stores and digital channels. Fourth quarter comp digital channel sales increased 29 percent, on top of 34 percent last year, contributing 1.8 percentage points of comparable growth.
“Our fourth quarter results demonstrate the power of the significant investments we’ve made in our team and our business throughout 2017. Our team’s outstanding execution of Target’s strategic initiatives during the year delivered strong fourth quarter traffic growth in our stores and digital channels, which drove healthy comparable sales in every one of our five core merchandise categories,” said Target chairman and CEO Brian Cornell. “While we have a lot left to accomplish, our progress in 2017 gives us confidence that we are making the right long-term investments to best position Target for profitable growth in a rapidly changing consumer and retail investment.”
On March 14, Target’s shares were trading at $71.17 compared to $59.47 on September 14, 2017.
Issaquah, WA based Costco posted double-digit sales and income gains in its second quarter ended February 18, 2018. Net sales for the period rose 10.8 percent, to $32.28 billion from the year ago period. Comparable-store sales, excluding the impact of fuel and currency changes, rose 5.4 percent.
Quarterly income rose 36 percent to $701 million from 2017. Earnings per share rose $0.17 due to a net income tax benefit of $74 million reflecting the new tax laws. Excluding the benefit, net income grew 22 percent. E-commerce sales jumped 28.5 percent to $1.5 billion, boosted by site traffic gains, higher conversion rates and more merchandise orders.
On March 14, 2018, shares in Costco were trading at $187.46 compared to $162.37 on September 14, 2017.
Lakeland, FL based Publix Super Markets also enjoyed comp store sales growth in its fourth quarter ended December 30, 2017, seeing an improvement of 3.2 percent over the same quarter last year. Sales for the fourth quarter were $8.9 billion, a 2.1 percent decline from last year’s $9.1 billion. However, excluding the extra week in the fourth quarter of 2016, sales for the fourth quarter of 2017 would have grown 5 percent, the company said.
Earnings for the fourth quarter of 2017, a 13-week period, were $766.6 million, versus $544.5 million in 2016’s fourth quarter, a 40.8 percent increase.
Net earnings for the fiscal year were $2.3 billion, compared with $2 billion in the 53-week fiscal 2016, a 13.1 percent increase. Sales in 2017 were $34.6 billion, a 1.6 percent increase from $34 billion in fiscal 2016; without the additional week in 2016, sales for 2017 would have risen 3.5 percent. Comps for the full-year were up 1.7 percent.
Publix is controlled by an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) and its stock isn’t publicly traded – it is sold only to current associates and members of the board of directors, but its value is reported. In March 2018, its stock is valued at $41.40 per share versus $36.05 per share in September of 2017.
“I’m delighted that we had a significant increase in our stock price,” said Publix CEO and president Todd Jones. “I’m proud of our associate owners for their dedicated service to our customers and communities.”
Regionally, Weis Markets capped another excellent year with a strong fourth quarter performance.
Buoyed by what it termed ongoing price investments, disciplined sales promotions and an improved customer experience during fiscal 2017, Mid-Atlantic retailer Weis Markets posted a fourth-quarter comparable-store sales increase of 1.2 percent, while the quarter’s overall sales increased 2.2 percent, when adjusted for the additional week in 2016.
For the 13-week period ended Dec. 30, 2017, the Sunbury, PA-based retailer’s sales were $883.7 million, versus $925.1 million for the 14-week period ended Dec. 31, 2016. Weis Markets’ net income rose a substantial 54.7 percent to $63.7 million while earnings per share totaled $2.37, which the company attributed mainly to a $49.3 million decrease in deferred income tax courtesy of the recently passed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
“In 2017, we achieved record sales of $3.5 billion and generated our 15th consecutive quarter of increased comparable-store sales,” said Weis Markets chairman and CEO Jonathan Weis. “During this time, we also worked to efficiently integrate 44 newly acquired stores. We have done much to position our company for future profitable sales growth.”
Weis Markets’ year-to-date 2017 sales grew 12.8 percent, while comps edged up 1.5 percent when adjusted for the extra week in 2016.
For the 52-week period ending Dec. 30, 2017, the company’s sales rose 10.5 percent to $3.5 billion, versus $3.1 billion for the 53-week period in 2016. Year-to-date net income increased 12.9 percent to $98.4 million, while earnings per share rose 13 percent to $3.66, from $3.24 last year.
‘Round The Trade
Whole Foods will be meeting with some of its major suppliers on March 19 to discuss recent changing initiatives at the organics/natural foods retailer which was acquired by Amazon last June. We’ve spoken to about half a dozen key vendors who have complained about the Austin, TX retailer’s lack of transparency and detail especially when trying to better understand WFM’s shift to a centralized merchandising model. Part of their criticism centers on the retailer’s new in-store execution (ISE) service charge (ranging from 3 to 5 percent) that major suppliers will be charged to have their products directly managed at store level by Whole Foods or a designated vendor partner (Daymon) that the retailer selected. Such a move virtually eliminates independent food brokers from WFM’s sales pipeline. We’ll have a report for you next month with highlights of the upcoming summit. Centralizing merchandising isn’t the only change that’s occurring at Whole Foods. While lowering prices thus far has proven to be more hype than substance (when viewing retails on a total store basis), we’ve seen the addition of Amazon products (Echo, Fire, Kindle) being sold in some Whole Foods stores, free grocery delivery offered to Prime members, and one other speculated product addition that would clearly bear Amazon’s imprint: the possibility of including Coca-Cola products at its more than 450 units. If Coke did gain entry into Whole Foods, it would mark a major policy change for the retailer which has always sold foods that were “free of artificial preservatives, colors, flavors, sweeteners and hydrogenated fats,” according to its website. And in its latest move to expand its Prime membership, Amazon is now offering discounts (including free shopping and video) to millions of Medicaid recipients who would now pay $5.99 per month, which is more than 50 percent lower than the normal $12.99 monthly Prime fee. Clearly, this is an arrow aimed directly at Walmart. And according to Bloomberg, amazon.com is on a growth pace that could see its market capitalization $1 trillion (that’s with a “t”) by 2022. The Seattle-based juggernaut’s market cap currently is valued at about $775 million, more than combined value of two next largest retailers – Alibaba and Walmart…Instacart, which has been rockin’ for the past six months (despite the fact that it is now competing on a head-to-head basis in some markets with one of its early partners – Whole Foods), will now service all Aldi units in the Chicago market after a three-store test with the grocery delivery service proved successful last year. Kroger, too, will add 500 stores to its Instacart list. Moreover, the San Francisco-based startup that was founded less than six years ago, now has all three club store operators in the fold with Sam’s utilizing same-day service in several Texas markets and BJ’s expanding its program by making the service available to its customers at all 215 stores by the end of April. Costco began partnering with Instacart last October at all 441 continental U.S. stores and recently has broadened the service to include more grocery items…Sprouts had a huge opening at its first Mid-Atlantic unit, a 30,000 square foot unit in a former Mars Super Market in Ellicott City, MD earlier this month. Having visited many Sprouts stores out West in recent years, I’ve been long impressed by the company’s business model and even more impressed by its ability to execute its perishables-driven merchandising plan at store level. The company plans to open two stores in the Delaware Valley later this year – in the new Lincoln Square development of Broad Street and Washington Avenue in Philadelphia and in part of the old Macy’s location in the Moorestown (NJ) mall. It was also great to see Dan Sanders, former Acme president (2010-2012), at the new Sprouts unit, where he serves as chief operations officer for the Phoenix-based merchant. I’ve always admired Sanders’ integrity, humility and access even when Acme (under the misguided leadership of Supervalu) was enduring the worst period in its history. He’s in a much better place now and is a key component in the recent success of Sprouts…according to the Belgian newspaper De Standaard, current Ahold Delhaize CEO Dick Boer could retire as soon as later this month. The story noted that current deputy CEO Frans Muller will be elevated to the top job at the Dutch retailer. Boer would then become chairman of AD’s Supervisory Board replacing Mats Janssen, former Delhaize chairman. Ahold would not comment on the possible changing of the guard, but it makes sense given Dick Boer’s age (he’ll be 61 in August) and the fact that the integration of Ahold and Delhaize is now complete. It’s likely that a detailed succession plan was negotiated as part of the merger of the two large European-based chains whose primary holdings are in the U.S….earlier this month, the Salvation Army opened is first non-profit grocery store in its history. The new store is called DMG Foods (Doing the Most Good) and is operating in a 7,000 square foot warehouse on East 29th Street in Baltimore. DMG Foods will provide fresh and affordable “healthy” food to about 1,200 families who live in that food desert area of northeast Baltimore. It will be working with the Maryland Food Bank in offering daily meal solutions and cooking demos…Kohl’s will soon begin a 10-unit test in which it will house Aldi stores within its four walls as part of continuing effort by the apparel merchant to build traffic and drive overall sales. Aldi will essentially rent space from the Menomonee Falls, WI retailer and independently operate its “store within a store.” If the beta test is successful, the concept could be expanded to an additional 200 stores later this year. Kohl’s proved it is willing to experiment with other retailers’ products when it began selling Amazon products at about a dozen of its 1,150 department stores last fall…Walmart is clearly trending in the right direction and is investing heavily in its IT and digital infrastructure which will allow it to remain a powerful organization for many years. Walmart is also developing a technology called “Eden” which inspects produce for defects and can accurately predict the exact date when that item will spoil. Walmart believes it can save as much as $2 billion over the next five years. “Eden” is currently being used in 43 Walmart DCs and will shortly be brought to the retailer’s supplier farmers. Walmart has also entered the meal kit business with 10 different meal varieties available in about 250 stores. By the end of 2018, the meal kit offerings will be expanded to about 2,000 units. Prices of the prepared meals will be in the $8 to $10 range…boxed.com, the “membership warehouse” e-commerce firm, officially spurned Kroger’s $400 million acquisition offer and apparently plans to remain independent as it continues to build its business which it hopes to take public in the near future. Of course, that is until somebody else waves more dollars at them…Target said it would raise its minimal hourly wage to $12 by this spring, the first step of a broader, more long-term initiative that would ultimately boost the mass merchant’s minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2020…some very notable obits to report this month. For you old folks out there (including me), Roger Bannister has passed away at age 88. That would be Dr. Roger Bannister, who had a long and distinguished career in medicine. But, he was far better known for an achievement that many athletic observers thought to be impossible at the time. On a cool, wet and blustery English day in May 1954, Bannister ran four laps around a cindered track in his hometown of Oxford in 3:59.4, making him the first person to run a mile in under four minutes. Bannister’s record stood just 46 days and he retired from competitive running less than a year later to pursue his medical career. “I wouldn’t claim to have made any great discoveries, but at any rate, I satisfactorily inched forward in our knowledge of
a particular aspect of medicine,” he said about his post-athletic career. “I am far more content with that than I am about any of the running I did earlier.” By the way, the current world record for the mile is now 3:43.13….finally, one of the most amazing people of the past 50 years – Stephen Hawking – has passed away at 76. Diagnosed with ALS at the age of 21, Hawking did not let his severe disability impede his desire and ability to become one of the greatest theoretical physicists in history. Although the disease ravaged his body, his incredible brain remained fully functional. When he lost the ability to speak, computer scientist Walter Woltosz created a program that allowed him to use his still-functional fingers to create sentences that would be sent to a speech synthesizer allowing him to vocalize his thoughts. “My goal is simple,” he once stated. “It is a complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is, and why it exists in all.” His 1988 book “A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes” is arguably the greatest scientific tome of all time. From that book came an excellent film of the same name directed by iconic documentarian Errol Morris in 1991. In 2014, “The Theory of Everything,” a more romanticized and highly acclaimed film about Hawking from his first wife’s perspective was released. Stephen Hawking’s life should be an inspiration to us all.