Albertsons pharmacy

An amazing post yesterday posted the newest coupon and it worked! For the past 4 months I've been paying 1060$ a month for this medicine and someone posted the new coupon and it worked ! My pharmacy asked 0 questions and I only paid $450 for my prescription! I get mine filled at Albertsons fyi. Thank you guys so so so much!

Dear all Reddit pharmacist, I have offered from both Walmart and Albertsons pharmacy. Which one is better? Beside salary consideration. Thanks

here is part 2 of the newsletter - so much news in the industry
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Link: https://www.grocerydive.com/news/walmart-harris-teeter-new-employee-benefits-mental-health-paid-parental-leave/647676/
With violence prevention a top-of-mind area for grocers and with incidents in the U.S. becoming more frequent, Walmart’s mental health initiative will teach leaders and managers how to best handle a situation involving an employee struggling with behavioral health issues, according to a recent Forbes article.
The “Workplace Mental Health course” will be overseen and run by Lyra Health, a company focused on improving mental health treatment access, Forbes reported.
Bolstering mental health support comes a few months after an in-store mass shooting in Chesapeake, Virginia, that killed six people. Walmart is facing three lawsuits from survivors, who are all employees, that outline inappropriate and concerning workplace behavior by the shooter, who was a Walmart team lead.
This is not the first time the retail giant has worked to improve its mental health support. In May 2021, Walmart began offering all its U.S. store associates as well as their families up to 10 free counseling sessions.
Only a few days after Walmart rolled out its mental health initiative, Harris Teeter began offering a new paid parental leave policy to all of its full-time associates. This updated benefit provides parents with four weeks of paid parental leave within the first 12 months after the birth or adoption of a child, according to the company’s announcement.
The grocer notes that this benefit builds off its existing benefits program, which provides health care, paid time off and education assistance as well as profit-sharing benefits.
More grocery employees are pushing for better worker benefits from their employers. Numerous Trader Joe’s locations over the last few months have unionized and held votes for unionization while Cub Foods workers averted a strike after a “historic” contract win last week, giving them an hourly raise and the creation of a “landmark” safety committee.
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Link: https://www.grocerydive.com/news/trader-joes-associates-california-new-york-to-vote-on-unionizing/647805/
Workers at a duo of Trader Joe’s stores in New York City and Oakland, California, are scheduled to cast ballots on April 19 and 20 to determine whether to unionize, according to a Thursday tweet from Trader Joe’s United, the labor organization looking to represent the workers.
The announcement follows the union’s disclosure late last month that the workers had filed plans with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to hold the elections and continues a drive by Trader Joe’s United to add to its small but growing membership. The union has said Trader Joe’s has mistreated workers by cutting retirement benefits, providing unacceptably low wages and not responding effectively to safety concerns.
Each of the two Trader Joe’s locations where workers are set to vote on unionizing this week would become the first store in its market to unionize if its associates decide to join Trader Joe’s United. Workers at the Oakland store recently filed unfair labor practices claiming that Trader Joe’s has attempted to interfere in their efforts to organize and threatened to take action against them, SFGate reported last week.
If the workers in New York City and Oakland decide to unionize, they would follow Trader Joe’s employees at stores in Hadley, Massachusetts; Minneapolis; and Louisville, Kentucky, in electing to formally organize. The grocery chain filed an objection to the Louisville vote with the NLRB, claiming that workers and an attorney for the union had tainted the vote.
Last October, Trader Joe’s workers at a store in the New York borough of Brooklyn voted not to join Trader Joe’s United, making the store the first — and so far only — in the California-based chain where workers have formally rejected an effort to unionize them.
Earlier in 2022, employees in Boulder, Colorado, withdrew a petition for a vote on unionization they had filed with the NLRB.
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Link: https://www.grocerydive.com/news/asset-protections-evolving-grocery/647258/
Once focused mainly on loss prevention, asset protection has taken on a broader range of potential threats and issues for grocers, with that shift accelerating during the pandemic, according to the Food Industry Association.
In some cases, grocers’ asset protection teams are working more closely with operations teams to reduce shrink beyond theft, said Doug Baker, vice president of industry relations at FMI. Disasters, such as fires and floods, civil unrest and cyberattacks, are blending into the realm of asset protection.
“One of the things I’m starting to see is not only this move from loss prevention to asset protection but this idea that risk management is the umbrella under which all of these security-type positions fall,” Baker said.
This shift to concentrate on the holistic protection of people, profits, property and brand has sped up as heightened stress brought on by the pandemic has increased the risk for violence. In addition, felony theft thresholds increased in dozens of states prior to the pandemic.
A new Asset Protection in Food Retail report from FMI, along with interviews with vice presidents of the trade group, shed more light on how the role of asset protection is changing within the grocery industry and some of the noteworthy areas grocers should focus on when it comes to boosting safety and reducing liabilities.
Store items are not typically stolen because of their dollar value, but rather for their ability to be resold, FMI noted.
The report, which was prepared by David Orgel Consulting LLC, was based on an FMI asset protection survey in January taken by 24 companies, which represent more than 5,400 stores, and executive interviews.
ORC thieves are the main culprits lifting goods in departments of major concern. Grocery stores are especially targeted for this kind of theft because they are open to the public, accessible and a central point in communities, Baker said.
Preventing theft of general merchandise as well as health and beauty care products is a top concern area for 79% of surveyed respondents, according to the FMI report. Seventy percent said keeping meat secure is a top concern, while 68% indicated that protecting center store merchandise from theft is a key source of worry.
Departments of lesser focus are prepared foods/deli, which 23% of respondents cited as a major concern, produce (22%) and frozen foods (14%).
Certain areas of the store also were cited as needing to be watched because they attract crime. Surveyed respondents said they focus heavily on the outer perimeter and parking lot as well as checkout areas. Behind the scenes, grocery stores’ receiving and front end, generator and electrical rooms as well as the cash office must be monitored closely.
Many grocers have enlisted the help of third-party companies to help combat theft if they do not have the bandwidth to build those teams internally, Baker said. This help comes in the form of anti-theft technology as well as professional investigators.
Asset protection professionals brought on by grocers can specialize in specific areas — for example, ORC investigators are hired to detect specific theft patterns, build case files and work with local law enforcement and prosecution — but overall, these professionals oversee “customer-facing and non-customer-facing” sections of the store.
The most commonly used theft deterrents include video monitors, which 100% of retailers said they use, security/guards (90%) and locked cases (79%), according to the report. FMI noted, however, that retailers must “weigh the need for security against the importance of having a pleasing in-store customer experience.”
Typically, these security systems come from partnerships grocers establish with third-party companies. For example, Indyme, a software company that specializes in anti-theft technology, has partnered with a number of grocers to install anti-theft display cases, speakers and camera systems meant to deter and catch shoplifters.
Alto, a company that focuses on reducing retail theft, also helps retailers with establishing ORC teams, which see through prosecution of ORC suspects — an area 60% of retailers said deserves further attention in 2023, according to FMI’s report.
“Stealing food is not going to rank very high on the list from a police officer if they're dealing with something that is a matter of life and death,” Baker said. “So, the importance to be able to hand law enforcement, hand lawyers and prosecutors a case that’s got all of the information that is needed in order to be able to prosecute it, is where the industry is starting to move.”
FMI is stepping up as a third-party resource for grocers with its Asset Protection Council. The council is made up of senior-level asset protection executives from food retailers and wholesalers. In addition, a Risk and Safety Council plans education and networking events for food retail risk and safety professionals as well as provides guidance on risk management and safety issues. The two councils, which meet virally and share ideas, have been working to standardize nomenclature around asset protection, Baker said.
FMI’s annual Asset Protection and Grocery Resilience Conference helps connect retailers with solution providers, Baker said. For this year’s conference, FMI made a concerted effort for the first time to invite CPG companies, which can provide a global perspective that grocers often don’t have, Baker said, noting FMI plans to invite emergency managers to next year’s conference.
Weapons detection software and facial matching technology are on FMI’s radar as new technologies to boost asset protection, Baker said. While facial recognition has raised concerns from the general public around privacy and other issues, he said that facial matching is more tailored so that the technology is only checking if shoppers’ faces match with those in a database of “known bad actors.”
Checkout is one area ripe for tech innovation as grocers look to balance offering convenient customer experiences and reducing vulnerability to theft, FMI noted.
“You’ll probably continue to see the use of artificial intelligence and computer vision as a way of checking out as the technology continues to improve and is able to scale,” Baker said, noting they likely will be supplemental to registers and self-checkout stations.
Wheel-locking mechanisms on shopping carts — which can be low- or high-tech depending on the solution — can deter ORC. “It seems very basic, but it’s so important because if you can stop [thieves] before they get too far away from the door, you have a better chance of getting that product back,” Baker said.
Validating new options to determine how effective they are is one of the key areas food retailers flagged as they want FMI and the industry to help with, per FMI’s report.
To help address that, FMI is in the “pilot” phase of launching a technology directory that will allow its members to sort and filter for providers in different categories, like asset protection and security, to potentially partner with, Baker said.
The directory will cover technology in “any functional area of the industry” that might be needed including supply chain, manufacturing, private brands, asset protection, customer engagement, loyalty, front-end systems and back-end systems, Baker said.
As data and analytics play a larger role in grocers’ asset protection strategies, FMI’s report highlighted a little-mentioned area of loss prevention: internal theft.
A majority of surveyed food retailers (98%) cited internal theft as a top metric they measure, followed by shrink, workers’ compensation claims, theft and spoiled food loss.
Internal theft can not only refer to store employees but also to business partners, such as a third-party delivery courier, who have access to a grocer’s backroom. Workers can either steal themselves or get help from a friend, family member or significant other, Baker said.
Baker said the high percentage for internal theft measuring isn’t surprising. “Retailers want to control what they can control because there's plenty that they can't control and so managing inside their four walls, starting with their own staff and their trading partners remains really high on that chart.”
Keeping an eye on backrooms and making sure that only authorized personnel are there can help grocers reduce internal theft, Baker said.
As asset protection has broadened beyond theft, grocers have a more varied list of areas they want to address and bolster, per FMI’s survey.
In addition to 60% of grocers saying they want to expand prosecution/adjudication efforts, respondents also cited loss/theft at self-checkout and mobile scan-and-go (30%); ORC (28%); business continuity planning (22%); and active assailant preparedness (17%) as areas of further opportunity in their 2023 planning.
FMI noted that violence de-escalation — an element present in ORC as well as active assailants — is also a key area for focus for grocers.
Federal law is where grocers are hoping ORC efforts will continue to expand as newly proposed legislation has been introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate that would address grocers’ concerns for lack of prosecution.
“This is a tremendous issue that has been going on and it seems to have ramped up a lot,” said Christine Pollack, vice president of government relations at FMI, regarding ORC crimes and violence. “And so there’s a heightened awareness on Capitol Hill for legislation to tackle this problem. This is a good bill, we support it.”
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Link: https://www.grocerydive.com/news/private-brand-sales-shine-first-quarte647495/
The takeaway from PLMA’s new report is that private brand sales continue to outpace national brands by a long shot.
Fifteen of the 17 food and non-food departments that Circana tracks showed store brand dollar sales increases in Q1, with double-digit achievers led by beverages (17.1%), bakery (16.8%), general food (16%) and refrigerated (15.5%). Floral, deli-prepared foods and health care saw smaller double-digit increases.
Deli cheese, general merchandise, beauty, frozen foods, produce, deli meat, liquor and health products had smaller increases. Only tobacco and meat recorded a sales decline, at 11.8% and 1.6%, respectively.
For unit sales, six departments improved, led by floral (5%), deli-prepared (2.1%) and bakery (1.8%). The final three were general merchandise, produce and liquor.
Store brands, food and non-food combined, showed market shares gain with dollar share rising to 19.1% and unit share advancing to 20.8% in Q1, up from the same time a year ago of 18.5% and 20.3%, respectively.
Store brands overall also performed better than national brands in unit sales. While unit sales dropped last year, store brands experienced a smaller dip than national brands, PLMA noted, with a similar gap in Q1. PLMA stated this product disparity is due to consumers switching from national brands to store brands.
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Link: https://www.grocerydive.com/news/grocery-tv-looks-to-bigger-screens-to-grab-shoppers-attention/647534/
The new screens are designed to be easily noticed by shoppers as they walk through aisles, pass through the front perimeter or stand in line to check out, making ads visible multiple times during a single store visit, according to Grocery TV.
The company said it intends to install the screens in more stores where it provides advertising services but did not provide details about when or where it plans to place the additional screens.
Grocery TV is making the front-end displays accessible to programmatic advertising systems, which allow marketers to use software to automatically place messages in front of audiences they want to target. The company already uses that approach to allow advertisers to buy space elsewhere on its network.
The announcement follows Grocery TV’s January purchase of Mediaworks Advertising Solutions, which provides sanitizing-wipe dispensers equipped with 32-inch advertising displays for use at store entrances. Mediaworks has struck deals to put the units in stores run by grocery chains, including Schnuck Markets, Cub and Lunds & Byerlys.
In a blog post earlier this year, Grocery TV said it expects to expand its media network to all key store areas, including service departments, pharmacies and center store aisles by the end of 2023.
Grocery TV’s addition of the new screens to its array of devices designed to present advertising to shoppers comes as food retailers move to generate advertising revenue from CPGs and other marketers. Major grocers, such as Ahold Delhaize, Kroger and Albertsons, have launched their own media firms to work with brands interested in reaching the customers’ shoppers, while other companies like Cooler Screens have partnered with retailers to display advertising on screens in stores.
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Link: https://www.grocerydive.com/news/canada-proposes-one-time-grocery-rebates-to-help-offset-inflation/647647/
In the face of high inflation, the Canadian government is looking to offer one-time grocery rebates to help make food more affordable, per a Thursday announcement from the office of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The rebate, which is part of the federal government’s proposed 2023 budget, would help about 11 million “low- and modest-income” Canadians with a one-time payment that varies based on eligibility.
The rebate is structured to provide, on average, up to:
The proposal aims to support people “hardest hit by rising food prices” and is part of other measures, such as ones targeting predatory lending and lowering credit card transaction fees for small businesses, in the budget that would boost affordability for Canadians, per the press release.
“With grocery prices on the rise, we’re putting more money back into the pockets of Canadians who need it most, when they need it most,” Trudeau said in a statement. “The new Grocery Rebate, and the other measures we’ve put forward in Budget 2023, will help build an economy that works for everyone, where every Canadian family can afford to put food on the table.”
Trudeau positioned the rebate as a part of broader efforts by the Canadian government to invest in the middle class, grow the country’s economy and improve affordability.
Earlier this week, Trudeau visited Sherwood Co-op in Regina, Saskatchewan, to talk about the grocery rebate, per a local news report.
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Link: https://www.grocerydive.com/news/the-friday-checkout-fresh-grocery-gaps-black-neighborhoods/647670/
The Friday Checkout is a weekly column providing more insight on the news, rounding up the announcements you may have missed and sharing what’s to come.
In looking to address food insecurity, some companies and organizations, like Instacart, have touted that expanded access to affordable e-commerce services can help residents. But a new report from the Brookings Institution aims to flesh out the “deeper and more fundamental problem” of devaluation and disinvestment fueling grocery disparities.
Across 10 metro areas analyzed, Brookings found that Black-majority block groups across four income quartiles had a lower chance of being within one mile of a premium grocery store than block groups in each of those metro areas overall. Seven of the metro areas studied had no premium grocery stores within a mile of Black-majority, high-income neighborhoods.
Meanwhile, Brookings found an overall trend of more dollar stores in Black-majority neighborhoods, but noted that the patterns in each metro area varied depending on factors like income. Areas with dollar stores tend to have a cluster of them than just one, which makes it harder for grocery stores and other small businesses to compete, per the report, which was co-authored by Research Assistant DW Rowlands, Senior Research Associate Manann Donoghoe and Senior Fellow Andre M. Perry.
Brookings did not shy away from exploring how dollar stores can harm communities: “While dollar stores can fill a need in low-income neighborhoods, they are often regarded as predatory businesses that harm communities more than they benefit them, due to very low wages, displacing other grocery options while failing to sell fresh food, store design that increases the rate of armed robberies, and OSHA and FDA violations that put customers and employees at risk.”
The report, which presumed that store type can signal economic value in a specific area, said that the prevalence of dollar stores and shortage of premium grocery stores in Black-majority neighborhoods tie into a wider problem of devaluation and underinvestment in Black communities.
People in Englewood, a predominantly Black and lower-income neighborhood in Chicago, have made similar claims in the wake of Whole Foods Market’s controversial exit last fall from the community and subsequent plans to replace the Amazon-owned premium grocer with a Save A Lot.
"When people think of Save A Lot, they cringe. So when that banner went up, people were up in arms. I cannot believe we would go from one extreme to the next," Asiaha Butler with the Residents Association of Greater Englewood told NBC Chicago.
To break out of the larger problem of devaluation and underinvestment, grocers will likely need to unite with local communities and developers to not just help their business succeed, but to also spur further investment. Locally owned stores may be a key answer, per Brookings, which noted that two local chains, Yes! Organics Market and Mom’s Organic Market in Washington, D.C., have a smaller racial disparity.
“[It may] be evidence that locally owned stores are less likely to undervalue Black neighborhoods than national chains with less familiarity with the areas where they operate,” the report said.
Albertsons links online health tool with Apple Watch
Albertsons said Thursday it is working with Apple to allow shoppers enrolled in the grocer’s newly launched Sincerely Health program who have an Apple Watch to earn points redeemable for grocery purchases for meeting their daily activity goals with the device.
Sincerely Health participants who opt to share their Apple Watch activity data with the platform will receive up to 75 points per day for closing the Move, Exercise and Stand Activity rings, while shoppers who have an iPhone but don’t have an Apple Watch can earn up to 25 points per day for closing the Move ring using the Fitness app.
Women winemakers to visit Save Mart and Lucky stores
Women vintners at a range of California wine brands will appear at tastings at select grocery stores run by The Save Mart Companies, the grocer announced Thursday. The winemakers, who represent brands including Apothic, Chandon, Joel Gott, Oak Ridge and Petaluma, will appear at numerous Save Mart and Lucky locations in California's San Francisco Bay Area and Central Valley regions from April 14 to April 23 as part of the retailer’s “Women in Wine” series.
Cub Foods workers ratify contract
Employees for the Minnesota grocery chain have approved a two-year contract, avoiding a strike that was set to start last Friday, according to a Tuesday announcement from United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 663, which represents the workers. The deal, which the union struck with Cub Foods earlier this month, includes raises that average between $2.50 and $3.50 per hour.
That’s the annual rate of grocery inflation the U.S. economy recorded in March, continuing a string of declines in the key metric that began last year following a historic run-up, the federal government announced this week. The 8.4% level of food-at-home inflation last month represents the first time grocery prices rose more slowly than restaurant prices on an annual basis since mid-2021, CNBC noted.
Did you still believe you need a car or even a cart to carry all your groceries home? Think again. Earlier this week, this individual went viral on TikTok and is now all over Twitter for strapping groceries to a specially made vest and belt and then riding away on an electric scooter, carrying roughly a dozen grocery bags as well as a watermelon.
Man picks up Groceries on Scooter ????! pic.twitter.com/puuu4geChZ
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Link: https://www.grocerydive.com/news/grocery-inflation-drops-again-march-2023/647437/
Grocery prices and overall inflation continued to drop in March after hitting multi-decade highs last year.
In March 2022, food-at-home prices shot up at a 10% annual rate while overall inflation for that month reached 8.5%. Those figures climbed even higher as 2022 progressed.
In total, three of the six major grocery store food group indexes posted month-to-month decreases last month. The index for meats, poultry, fish and eggs decreased 1.4% in March compared to the month before, with the index for eggs, specifically, dropping 10.9%, per the BLS. Prices for fruits and vegetables declined 1.3%, while dairy and dairy-related product prices decreased 0.1%.
Meanwhile, prices for cereals and bakery products increased 0.6% compared to February, and nonalcoholic beverage prices rose 0.2%.
The index for shelter, which was the main contributor to overall inflation in March, offset a decline in the energy index, per the BLS.
Industry followers have said they expect food prices and inflation to taper but remain high this year.
“I really think and hope that we’re on track towards much more normal year-over-year food price inflation going into 2024,” Dr. Ricky Volpe, associate professor of agribusiness at Cal Poly, said last month following the release of the February CPI. “I don’t think we’ll hit it this year, but maybe next year.”
Volpe stressed that while certain commodity cost increases have been abating in recent months, it might take a while for those decrease to reach consumers.
Executives from several top grocers and retailers who sell food told their investors earlier this year that they are expecting the pace of price increases to decelerate considerably as this year continues.
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Link: https://www.grocerydive.com/news/moodys-food-retailers-well-positioned-to-handle-snap-revenue-loss/647133/
SNAP benefits accounted for roughly 12% of food and beverage sales in 2022, per data from the Department of Commerce cited by Moody’s. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimated that SNAP spending would fall by $3 billion per month starting in March — a more than 25% reduction — due to the temporary pandemic-related boost to SNAP benefits nationwide.
“The loss of emergency benefits comes at a particularly stressful time for consumers, who are already facing rising costs for basic needs, especially food, as the US economy slows and food inflation stays stubbornly high,” Moody’s noted.
Grocers will be the bright spot as the broader retail sector faces a negative outlook with the lowered SNAP benefit amounts, Moody’s reported.
“Since lower income consumers have a fixed amount of disposable income they will have to fill in the gap of lower SNAP benefits by spending a larger part of their income on food while spending less on other retail categories,” Moody’s noted. “This shift will cause an overall compression in margins for the retail sector as food has lower profit margins compared to other merchandise.”
Retailers like Walmart, which Moody’s estimated has an annual SNAP sales average that tops $20 billion, likely will see their margins continue to face pressure as higher food sales steal spend from other merchandise.
Grocers, on the other hand, can expect a sales increase between 3% to 4%, mainly due to higher prices, and a roughly 1% boost to their earnings this year, with trade downs to higher margin private label offset by higher labor and occupancy costs, per Moody’s estimates.
The firm noted the rise of SNAP online purchasing and recent improvements to private label have helped grocers appeal to SNAP participants and stand out from their competitors. Private label that offers consumers less expensive alternatives likely will remain key to attracting consumer seeking to lower their grocery bills, according to Moody’s. Many grocers also have repaid debts and strengthened their balance sheets, improving their financial standings, the report noted.
Grocers continue to benefit from the at-home eating trend that ramped up due to COVID-19-related health concerns and restrictions and now has pivoted into a cost-saving measure amid high food inflation and higher costs of dining out. The ongoing popularity of hybrid work and high inflation steering consumers to focus on food and other essentials instead of discretionary spending are also factors in grocers’ favor, according to Moody’s.
Meanwhile, SNAP participants received a 12.5% cost-of-living adjustment in October to help offset inflation, Moody’s noted, adding that will not fully cover the loss of emergency SNAP benefits for food retailers but will ease revenue losses.
Along with predictions on the impact the end of the emergency SNAP allotments will have on sales in the retail sector, the Moody’s report also delved into how SNAP participants spend their benefits. Roughly 40% redeem their benefits at traditional supermarkets, while 53% shop at superstores and 6% at convenience stores, per USDA data cited in the report.
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Link: https://www.grocerydive.com/news/online-grocery-sales-sag-march-rising-costs-squeeze-shoppers/647422/
The findings from Brick Meets Click and Mercatus make clear that rising prices are having a strong effect on grocery e-commerce trends across the board, with people’s income playing a central role in determining their online shopping behavior.
Forty-four percent of households that placed an online grocery order for pickup or delivery from a grocery or mass merchant said the most important factor in determining the service they used was “not paying more than necessary,” according to the report, which is based on a survey of 1,742 adults the firms conducted on March 30 and March 31.
Shoppers with annual household incomes below $50,000 were 34% more likely to opt for pickup, while households earning more than $200,000 per year were twice as likely to have their order delivered, David Bishop, a partner at Brick Meets Click, said in a statement. Lower-income shoppers are especially drawn to pickup because the channel is less expensive than delivery, Bishop said.
The recent elimination of emergency SNAP benefits — provided to participants in the government-sponsored nutrition program in response to the COVID-19 pandemic — likely played a role in causing interest in pickup to decline more rapidly than it did for delivery, Brick Meets Click and Mercatus noted.
The firms also reported that the likelihood that a shopper who places an online grocery order will place another order with the same retailer during the ensuing 30 days, known as a repeat intent score, declined by nearly 3 percentage points in March compared with the same month in 2022. First-time shoppers and those in lower-income groups tended to have lower repeat intent scores than people who placed four or more online orders during the prior three months or were more affluent, according to the data.
Monthly order frequency, a key measure of people’s interest in using digital channels to buy groceries, declined in March to 2.42 — its lowest level since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020. In a reflection of the lasting impact the public health crisis has had on the grocery industry, however, that figure was still almost 20% above its pre-pandemic level.
The drop in monthly order frequency was larger among traditional grocers than it was for mass retailers like Walmart and Target, which have been grabbing market share in the online grocery space.
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Link: https://www.grocerydive.com/news/Downtown-San-Francisco-Whole-Foods-Market-closes-citing-safety-concerns/647436/
The Whole Foods Market Trinity store in downtown San Francisco has closed its doors to “ensure the safety of our Team Members,” a spokesperson for the specialty grocer said in an emailed statement Tuesday.
The spokesperson noted all staff will be transferred to other nearby locations after making the “difficult decision to close the Trinity store for the time being.” The grocer did not say if or when the store would reopen, but that it will evaluate reopening if the safety of employees can be ensured.
The 64,737-square-foot flagship store, located at Eighth and Market streets in the city’s Mid-Market neighborhood, closed its doors on April 11, a little over a year after opening in March 2022.
Reports from The San Francisco Standard cited “deteriorating street conditions” including drug use and crime as reasons for the Whole Foods closing. The local news source also reported the Trinity location cut back on operating hours due to “high theft and hostile people” in October and a month later had to limit restroom access after syringes and drug pipes were found inside.
Other national retailers have taken similar measures to protect the safety of employees. In July 2022, Starbucks said it would permanently close 16 stores due to safety issues. Six of those were in the Los Angeles area; another six in Seattle; two in Portland, Oregon; one in Philadelphia; and one in Washington, D.C., sister publication Restaurant Dive reported.
The coffee shop chain giant did not go into specifics surrounding incident reports and employee feedback regarding the 16 stores that closed. However, Starbucks had previously noted safety issues related to its open restrooms.

I thought i just start with a newsletter showing the most recent news i found here
Link: https://www.grocerydive.com/news/prices-may-be-up-but-fewer-shoppers-are-cutting-down-on-grocery-purchases/648051/
While the share of shoppers who said they bought fewer groceries dropped to 32% in February from 41% in October 2022, the data indicates that people have nevertheless been taking active steps to mitigate the impact food costs are having on their finances.
Sixty-eight percent of shoppers in the survey said their grocery spending was more than it was a year ago, up from 59% in 2022, and the vast majority of those people (85%) blamed that additional spending on rising prices.
Although grocery inflation has been slowing, it remains sharply elevated, according to U.S. government statistics.
More than half of respondents (52%) to the survey said they are looking for deals more than they did in the past, an increase of 5 percentage points since last October. Notably, 31% buy items only when they are on special, up from 27%. Thirteen percent of respondents said they have stopped buying organic products, and 14% have reduced their purchases of fresh produce, although both of those figures were below their levels in October.
In addition, the percentage of people who buy less fresh meat or seafood than they did before has trended downward, while the proportion who buy more of those items frozen has increased, suggesting that shoppers are looking at myriad strategies to manage costs while keeping their homes stocked with food.
Shoppers have also been buying more items in bulk in person, increased their purchases of products carrying store brands, and stepped up their use of loyalty programs, according to the research.
Some 15% of shoppers said they eat out less often, a behavior shift the report pointed out generally pushes people to buy more groceries. Still, spending on food in restaurants outpaces grocery spending by a margin of 53% to 47%, according to the report.
The poll, part of FMI’s ongoing U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends survey, was conducted from Feb. 1-14 by The Hartman Group and reflects responses from 2,105 shoppers.
The survey also found that people visited an average of 5.2 grocery stores in February, up slightly from 4.9 during the same period in 2022. In addition, consumers are placing greater importance on quality perimeter goods — especially produce — and accurate pricing information in choosing where to shop.
The report noted that although worry about COVID has fallen to its lowest level since the early days of the pandemic, a third of shoppers remain “extremely” or “very” concerned about the disease.
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Link: https://www.grocerydive.com/news/h-e-b-central-market-unveil-credit-cards-with-new-perks/648008/
While the cashback feature is the main one that H-E-B is spotlighting, the grocer also noted that the cards have additional benefits, including instant access to a virtual version of their card; personalized travel and lifestyle specials; and, for eligible participants, no impact to their credit score.
The announcement noted that neither card has an annual fee and that customers get the 1.5% cashback not only by shopping at H-E-B but also for all other Visa-eligible purchases at other vendors like movie theaters, gas stations online retailers and more.
H-E-B Group Vice President of Marketing Ashwin Nathan said in the announcement that the new credit cards are part of the Texas grocery company’s efforts to offer “innovative, quality programs” that help shoppers save.
“With the H-E-B and Central Market credit cards, we’re offering Texans a more rewarding shopping experience that provides savings wherever they shop and gives H-E-B and Central Market fans a premium benefit on their favorite products,” Nathan said.
Along with the two new Visa Signature Credit Cards, H-E-B launched last September its H-E-B Debit Card account, which lets customers access several benefits and perks such as 5% cashback on H-E-B private label items.
That same month, DoorDash and Chase announced plans to launch a DoorDash and Mastercard credit card — a first for the e-commerce service provider.
Chase also partnered with Instacart to launch a co-branded credit card last month.
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Link: https://www.grocerydive.com/news/wakefern-boosts-executive-ranks/647919/
Less than a month after naming its next president, Wakefern Food Corp. has announced additional updates to its executive ranks.
The retailer-owned cooperative said Monday that Elena Kabasinskas has been named group vice president of strategy, planning and transformation. In the role, she will oversee key business processes and future-focused strategies like the deployment of new technologies.
Kabasinskas has worked for the past two years as an industry consultant, according to her LinkedIn profile. Prior to that, she worked at The Estée Lauder Companies, where she was most recently senior vice president in the company’s Global Transformation Office and Special Projects — a role in which she “led strategic initiatives that drove growth, efficiency, and transformational change,” according to Wakefern’s announcement.
Kabasinskas also led financial and business operations for the cosmetics maker as senior vice president of strategy, finance and business services in North America. In all, she spent more than 25 years at The Estée Lauder Companies, according to her profile.
“[Kabasinskas] will play an important role as we look to further fuel growth across our entire business. Her deep experience in process improvement and business transformation will be pivotal as we look internally to strengthen our own operations and meet the challenges presented by a new digital world,” Joe Sheridan, Wakefern’s president, said in a statement.
Wakefern also announced that Michael Day, who joined the company in 1999, has been promoted to senior vice president of strategy, business development and architecture. In that role, Day will lead strategic planning across numerous business units and will oversee information technology, real estate, business development, member services and strategic transformation strategies.
Kabasinskas will report to Day, Wakefern noted.
Last month, Wakefern announced that Mike Stigers, who formerly headed United Natural Food, Inc.’s retail division, will become its next president, effective June 1. He will fill the role currently held by Sheridan, who announced his retirement last year after nearly five decades with the company.
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Link: https://www.grocerydive.com/news/lunds-byerlys-artificial-intelligence-computer-vision-phood-food-waste/648031/
Phood’s technology and feedback will give Lunds & Byerlys employees the ability to scan and weigh food as it is added to the grocer’s deli food bars and then again before food is thrown away, according to the press release. With this data, the grocer can make changes to ensure less food is wasted by providing shoppers with the proper food offerings at the right time.
Phood’s solution is a combination of hardware and software that automates food waste tracking for food retailers, according to the announcement.
Aaron Daly, vice president of strategic development at Ecology Action and previously principal at the Ratio Institute, noted in a recent interview that Phood’s system informs store employees and managers of what was bought for different departments, where it’s all going and what it’s costing the grocer. This in turn makes it easier for grocers to know what to order less of, said Daly, who is familiar with Phood from the Ratio Institute’s work with the company.
“It’s a real-time management tool that’s very powerful, saves money [and] reduces food waste,” said Daly, who was also a former director of energy management at Whole Foods Market.
The Monday press release credits Lunds & Byerlys with being the first retailer in the Twin Cities to adopt Phood’s food waste management solution. Along with the food waste reductions estimated with the company’s technology, Lunds & Byerlys has a partnership with Second Harvest Heartland’s Food Rescue Program and also donates food to local pig farms. The grocer said it is stopping nearly 6 million pounds of food from becoming waste annually, the press release notes.
In Coresight Research findings released last June, 90% of surveyed grocers considered food waste reduction to be key to meeting corporate sustainability targets. However, 51% of surveyed retailers said they do not have the technology needed to prioritize this sustainability initiative while 52% said they lacked management support for effective food waste reduction.
“The gap right now, I think, is that grocers need guidance on how to find the best tools and how to integrate them into their businesses,” Daly said.
Grocers often rely on partnerships with companies like Too Good To Go and Flashfood, which sell food that would otherwise go to landfills for a discounted price, to bolster food waste efforts. But more food retailers are beginning to integrate technology, like artificial intelligence, that will help with management and better limit food waste.
For example, SpartanNash at the end of last year began piloting Afresh Technologies’ predictive ordering and inventory management system at 10 Family Fare stores in the Grand Rapids, Michigan, area with the goal of improving forecasting, procurement, inventory control and food handling to decrease food waste.
Catherine Douglas Moran contributed to this report.
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Link: https://www.grocerydive.com/news/giant-eagle-resumes-printed-flyers-cleveland/647923/
The announcement that Giant Eagle is adopting what is essentially a hybrid approach to notifying Cleveland customers of promotions comes several months after the supermarket chain reportedly stopped sending printing circulars to customers in the Midwestern city.
Giant Eagle did not provide specifics about why it elected to again send a paper version of its weekly flyer to shoppers in Cleveland.
​​​“We are committed to putting our customers at the center of everything we do to ensure we provide what is most important to them, and what they want most right now is high-quality products at a good price,” Brian Ferrier, senior vice president of merchandising for Giant Eagle, said in a statement.
The grocer also did not indicate if its decision would affect other markets where it operates, but local media reports in Pittsburgh, where Giant Eagle is based, said the chain plans to start distributing printed circulars to homes in that region in May. The retailer ceased sending paper circulars to households in Pittsburgh in March, according to a report by WTAE.
In that city, Giant Eagle is facing stiffer competition: Walmart recently surpassed Giant Eagle as the top grocer in Pittsburgh as measured by market share, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported this month.
Data indicates that shoppers have been showing declining interest in purchasing groceries online as they continue to deal with inflation, suggesting printed circulars could resonate with shoppers looking to connect with supermarkets without having to head online. Consumer rights advocates have urged retailers to find ways other than digital channels to deliver promotions to the millions of people who do not have internet access or are not comfortable using online tools.
Giant Eagle’s move back to printed circulars follows its appointment of a new CEO last month, when the retailer summarily ousted its longtime leader, Laura Shapira Karet, without saying why it had decided to part ways with the executive.
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Link: https://www.grocerydive.com/news/grocers-sustainability-bottom-line-investors-analysts/646069/
This story is the first in a three-part series on how sustainability ties into grocers' bottom lines.
Kroger has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into its Zero Hunger, Zero Waste sustainability initiative, yet when the supermarket company’s leaders answer questions from industry analysts about its financial results, the expansive environment-focused program doesn’t typically come up.
Top managers of other publicly traded food retailers that also highlight their sustainability programs, such as Ahold Delhaize and Sprouts Farmers Market, also don’t often field questions during earnings calls about their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) initiatives, even as metrics like same-store sales and earnings per share are top topics of discussion.
That disconnect stems from the fact that while paying attention to the planet might be laudable, demonstrating the connection between sustainability and the bottom line remains a substantial challenge for the supermarket industry, according to analysts.
“You hope companies are doing the right things, but I don’t think as of right now people are going to go, ‘Oh, your sales and earnings were not good and they look ugly, but you're doing good things in sustainability, so we're going to reward you for that,’” said Brian Yarbrough, a consumer research analyst for financial services firm Edward Jones. “We're just not in an environment where that is today, and I don't see that in the foreseeable future.”
Many investors are also skeptical about claims companies make about their sustainability-related goals, in part because of a lack of standards governing the way they measure and report that information, Yarbrough said. That means that aside from fund managers who are specifically focused on putting money into companies based on what they can discern about their ESG progress, there is relatively little interest in using programs related to taking care of the environment as a way to judge a firm’s performance, at least for the time being, he said.
“There’s nothing there like GAAP data or accounting where it says, ‘OK, this seems believable, this is how they’re going to get there,’” said Yarbrough, who tracks retailers including Target, Walmart, Costco, Amazon and Dollar General.
Scott Mushkin, CEO of R5 Capital, shared a similar view. “It’s hard to delineate between the companies that … are looking at ESG through the lens as you would look at any investment in a business, and those that are just doing it to dress the company up to satisfy the latest trend” instead of as a way to improve underlying business fundamentals, Mushkin said.
The fact that companies track and report their progress toward sustainability-related goals differently is a central reason why analysts are paying relatively little attention to that information, said Arun Sundaram, a senior equity research analyst for CFRA Research who tracks the grocery sector.
“In the financial statement universe, you have standards, and then auditors make sure that every company is following the standards,” Sundaram said. “But there’s not something like that right now for ESG. The criteria are different, and there’s no standardization. We’re still very much in the early stages of ESG reporting.”
Efforts are underway to develop standards for how companies report aspects of their performance related to the environment.
The Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into ways to standardize how companies describe climate-related risks that could materially affect their performance to investors in regulatory filings and other documents. As part of that initiative, the agency has proposed laying out specific requirements for how companies disclose details about their greenhouse gas emissions to investors — potentially paving the way for companies to include metrics about sustainability in their earnings statements.
Private-sector groups like the International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation are also working to harmonize the way companies communicate with investors about sustainability-related financial information.
“As a CEO, you have to care and want to do better for the environment and do things that will help the environment, but you also can’t just be throwing a bunch of money at it without any type of return, because you will get penalized for that by investors.”
Brian Yarbrough
Consumer research analyst, Edward Jones
Sundaram and Yarbrough said while their firms have taken steps to guide investors who want to take sustainability and other aspects of ESG into account when making decisions, they remain focused on using basic accounting principles to make recommendations.
Sundaram noted that his firm relies on an automated scorecard developed by in-house quantitative specialists to benchmark companies on their progress relating to ESG, adding that he doesn’t usually touch on sustainability in writing reports about retailers he follows.
Yarbrough said Edward Jones subscribes to an ESG-scoring service so it can provide guidance to investors who ask for it. But he emphasized that most investors are much more concerned with traditional financial measures when they decide where to deploy their funds — and expect company executives to focus on those metrics, too.
“As a CEO, you have to care and want to do better for the environment and do things that will help the environment, but you also can’t just be throwing a bunch of money at it without any type of return, because you will get penalized for that by investors,” said Yarbrough.
While traditional investors might not be ready to use ESG metrics as a way to judge companies’ performance, sustainability and marketing experts said firms that demonstrate a commitment to the environment nevertheless stand to benefit because shoppers are increasingly paying attention and climate change is directly impacting their operations. Investors are taking notice of that dynamic in the relationship between consumers and grocers.
“Understanding the importance of embracing sustainability … is really the next wave of total quality management,” said Chisara Ehiemere, senior research lead of return on sustainability investment at the Center for Sustainable Business at New York University’s Stern School of Business.
Ehiemere continued: “If you're going to be thinking long term, if you’re going to be making sound business decisions, you're thinking about sustainability opportunities. You're thinking about the benefits from the consumer lens, you're looking at the risks, you're thinking about resiliency.”
The connection between a retailer’s commitment to sustainability and its prospects as a business also plays out in the types of goods it offers to shoppers, data the NYU sustainable business center recently collected in conjunction with consumer behavior analysis firm Circana suggests. Circana was formed in 2022 through the merger of Information Resources, Inc. (IRI) and The NPD Group.
Shoppers have been gravitating toward sustainability-marked products more quickly than conventional goods, and these products’ market share grew to 17.3% of purchases in 2022 despite the high inflation pressuring consumers, according to NYU and Circana’s Sustainable Market Share Index, which takes into account sales of products in 36 categories.
Rising interest among shoppers in buying sustainable products emphasizes the key position grocers play in helping people demonstrate their commitment to the environment through their buying decisions, said Randi Kronthal-Sacco, a senior scholar of marketing and corporate outreach at the Stern School who helped direct the research.
“For a retailer in particular who's interested in growth, which is sustainable products, and the future consumer, they should be gravitating towards sustainability in a big way,” Kronthal-Sacco said.
Doug Yolen, Circana’s vice president for center of store, said the data is a sign for retailers that their public commitment to sustainability will play a growing role in attracting shoppers in the years to come.
“Knowing the channel and the audience who the grocer is talking to is critical for them to be successful,” Yolen said. Whether they are shopping in a store or online, shoppers “really do get into the nitty-gritty when it comes to looking at grocers as a sustainable shopping in-store experience.”
Increasing shopper interest in buying sustainable food from retailers that make environmental stewardship a priority — combined with the savings retailers can realize by taking steps to use natural resources more efficiently and cut waste — underscores the importance for retailers of focusing on the environment and taking concrete steps to broadcast their achievements, said Sandeep Patnaik, a professor of marketing at the University of Maryland Global Campus School of Business.
“If companies, including grocery stores, are to survive and to be sustainable themselves in terms of the bottom line, then they have to have this conversation” about their commitment to sustainability, he said.
The efforts retailers make to position themselves as the sources of environmentally friendly products shoppers want, build sustainable supply chains and cut waste from their operations, Patnaik added, are “music to the investors’ ears.”
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Link: https://www.grocerydive.com/news/wegmans-self-serve-coffee-pilot/647906/
Wegmans’ is looking to brew up new coffee options after recording a decrease in morning traffic at its in-store Buzz Coffee Shops, which are staffed by the grocer’s workers, according to local reports.
In a statement to News10NBC, a Wegmans spokesperson said that coffee-brewing technology “has come a long way” and noted that the new self-serve machines use “our same high-quality coffee beans and offer a similar menu” to what customers can find at Buzz.
It’s unclear when the pilot started and how long it will last. Wegmans did not respond to media inquiries from Grocery Dive by publication time.
“As always, we’ll monitor the success of this new program, and continue to evaluate the future of our coffee shops as we move forward,” the Wegmans spokesperson told News10NBC.
The grocery industry has seen foot traffic rise as pandemic restrictions and concerns have eased, though high gas prices have cut into some of those trip gains. The grocery sector saw a 3.1% drop in foot traffic in the fourth quarter of 2022, compared to the same period in 2021, according to Placer.ai.
The self-serve coffee pilot comes at a time when grocers are figuring out how to balance automation with their workforces in areas like checkout, service departments and e-commerce fulfillment.
Wegmans has a history of innovation and trying out new concepts to bolster its business, with stores around its headquarters in Rochester often serving as testing grounds. Earlier this year, the grocer started piloting smart carts from Shopic at two New York stores — one in Amherst and another in Rochester. The grocer also recently launched an online tool called “Feel Your Best” to help shoppers plan balanced meals and build healthy eating habits.
Wegmans has also not shied away from making tough choices to benefit its bottom line. Last year, it decided to end the use of its scan-and-go shopping app three years after launching it at a Rochester store.
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Link: https://www.grocerydive.com/news/grocers-launch-new-snap-benefits/647927/
The regional grocer’s new benefit launched on Monday and is accessible to SNAP participants via Giant’s pickup and delivery services orders, according to the press release. The grocer noted the program is tapping funds from the American Rescue Plan Act.
“Nearly 150,000 of our Baltimore neighbors are impacted by the hunger cliff. This is an important step to help address the effects of the loss of SNAP Emergency Allotments and support families’ nutritional needs,” Michael J. Wilson, the director of Maryland Hunger Solutions, said in a statement. “Making sure our residents have access to healthy, affordable food is a step toward combating food insecurity.”
Eligible Baltimore shoppers who want to take advantage of the program through Giant Pickup have nine stores to choose from, according to the press release. Orders placed from Tuesday through Thursday do not have a delivery fee, while shoppers will be charged $3.95 per order at other points in the week.
The Harvest Market project is overseen by the nonprofit San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association, the announcement notes, and the instant rebates are provided to participants who earn matching dollars when they buy California-grown fruits and vegetables. Shoppers can earn up to $60 in rebates per month at the grocer’s Fort Bragg and Mendocino, California, stores.
The grocer began participating in the incentive in early March and will continue to do so until the CalFresh pilot project ends in December, according to Harvest Market’s press release.
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Link: https://www.grocerydive.com/news/coborns-to-buy-sullivans-foods/647827/
Coborn’s has agreed to acquire Illinois grocery chain Sullivan’s Foods in a deal that will add 11 stores to the Minneapolis-based retailer’s operations and mark its expansion to a sixth state, according to a Thursday press release sent by email.
Terms of the deal, which is on track to close in early May, were not disclosed.
Coborn's said it plans to continue operating the locations it is absorbing under the Sullivan’s Foods banner and intends to hire all of the approximately 800 people employed by the family owned company. Corborn’s also intends to continue Sullivan Foods’ relationship with Associated Wholesale Grocers, according to the announcement.
In addition to the 11 grocery stores Sullivan’s Foods in northern and central Illinois, the company runs three Ace Hardware Stores, a warehouse and a convenience store that includes a fuel center.
“The Sullivan family has run their family of stores with great care and is a highly respected retailer,” Chris Coborn, chairman and CEO of Coborn’s, said in a statement. “We look forward to extending the same operating philosophies in these locations that have made us successful for 102 years – investing and training for our people, supporting our communities and investing in our stores to improve the experience for our guests.”
With the addition of the Sullivan’s Foods locations, Coborn’s will include 77 supermarkets in Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, Illinois and Michigan. The retailer, founded more than a century ago, also owns liquor stores, fuel centers, pharmacies and a franchised restaurant unit.
Sullivan’s Foods began operations in 1967 with a single grocery store in Savanna, Illinois, on the state’s border with Iowa.
Coborn’s deal to acquire Sullivan’s Foods follows its purchase in late 2021 of Tadych’s Econofoods, a six-store Michigan chain. In 2018, Coborn’s acquired North Dakota-based Hornbacher’s from United Natural Foods, Inc.
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Link: https://www.grocerydive.com/news/why-albertsons-gave-o-organics-private-label-makeove647729/
As Albertsons aims to continue evolving its private brands to better resonate with consumers, the grocery company has recently revamped its O Organics line with redesigned packaging.
The new look taps into bright colors and keeps the identifiable “O” in the logo but gives it a modern take, Brandon Brown, senior vice president of Own Brands at Albertsons, said in an interview. The brand only carries products that are USDA-certified organic, non-GMO and grown without synthetic pesticides.
“O Organics always has a look and feel that our customers recognize, but, to be honest, it’s stale,” Brown said about the former look. “It kind of has this farmhouse, old-farming feel to it and it’s just not who our customers are today.”
Consumer testing found that customers primarily recognize the big “O” and bright colors, and that they wanted a more contemporary design, Brown said, noting Albertsons is going for “fun but still familiar” with vibrant colors and modern elements.
“I love the way it looks now because it is bold purple and these really bright colors that just pop on shelf,” Brown said. “And it just stands out, especially [since] a lot of organic and natural products have this kind of a little bit of dull look.”
Launched by Safeway in 2005, O Organics was one of the first store brands to focus on natural and organic items. Following that chain’s acquisition by Albertsons in 2015, the line has spread across numerous banners but has mostly retained its focus on a “very natural, close to the farm” approach to branding, Brown said.
That strategy risks looking out of touch with shoppers, particularly as specialty store brands like Kroger’s Simple Truth and Whole Foods’ 365 have streamlined their looks and become powerhouse sellers for those companies.
While organic products have long had a reputation as better for people and better for the environment, in recent years organic has gone more mainstream as concerns linger over affordability and access.
During the past nearly two decades, O Organics has grown in both sales and the number of products, now totaling more than 1,500 items including fresh fruits and vegetables, dairy and meats, cage-free certified eggs, snacks, baby food and more. In 2018, the store brand achieved the $1 billion sales milestone, becoming the fourth Albertsons private brand to do so.
The redesign is also coming at a time when consumers have flocked to private brands for not only cooking and hosting events at home, but also to save money during months-long high food prices. Thanks to innovation across the grocery industry, private brands are no longer just seen as lower-cost alternatives, Brown said.
Brown pointed to Albertsons’ imported pasta sauces under its Signature Reserve line and Soleil line of flavored sparkling water as areas where the grocery company has shone with innovation and unique offerings.
The O Organics redesign was “well underway” when Brown started at Albertsons in November after more than a decade at McKinsey & Company. The rollout of the new look is currently happening category by category across the grocery company’s store banners, which include Albertsons, Safeway, Vons and Jewel-Osco, and will be completed this year, Brown said.
To accompany the introduction of the new look, Albertsons has updated marketing materials and a social media campaign. Three 15-second videos are each devoted to spotlighting specific traits of the brand: affordability, availability across store aisles and timelessness.
“O is for Organics in every aisle,” reads one marketing visual.
In a bid to reach younger consumers, who are “driving a lot of growth” in O Organics, Brown said, the grocer’s #WakeUpOrganic social media campaign this April links to the grocer’s Organic Breakfast month promotion. The campaign is asking people to spotlight their favorite organic breakfast foods.
“Organic foods really started with fresh produce but now consumers are making entire meals using organic ingredients,” Brown said. “So breakfast is a great example where organic food spans across milk, dairy, coffee, cereals, granola and more. And brands such as O Organics have made that more affordable, more accessible.”
In recent years, Albertsons has added plant-based frozen meals to its O Organics line. The grocer has its eye on further private brand innovation in the frozen category, particularly around ethnic flavors, Brown said.
“Frozen food is always been a big category and [we’ve] started seeing a lot of innovation from more ethnic cuisines” such as Asian and South American options, Brown said.
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Link: https://www.grocerydive.com/news/online-grocery-shopping-habits-vary-by-where-people-work-report-finds/647810/
Remote workers are 25% more likely to order groceries online at least once weekly, while hybrid workers are 31% more likely to do so despite those groups potentially having more time for the errand of shopping for groceries, according to the Morning Consult report.
By comparison, in-person workers are only 14% as likely to order groceries online at least weekly.
In addition to purchasing groceries through online channels more frequently, roughly 70% of remote and 66% of hybrid workers claim they got all or most of their groceries this way while only 44% of in-person workers rely on online grocery shopping for the bulk of their groceries. In addition, remote and hybrid workers typically turn to apps for grocery shopping as well as meal planning, the report noted.
The Morning Consult report says these results are partially demographically driven as remote and hybrid workers are most often parents and high-income individuals — demographics that lean the most towards online grocery delivery.
Shoppers’ daily schedules are another factor the report considers, specifically in terms of car travel. Workers already set up at home find it more convenient to have their groceries delivered than to make a separate trip out, according to the report.
While a number of consumers continue to rely on online grocery shopping, grocery e-commerce sales dropped 7.6%, to $8 billion, in March, according to Brick Meets Click and Mercatus findings released last week. This decline is largely due to inflation still having a tight grip on shoppers and their buying habits.
Of the households that placed online grocery orders for pickup or delivery, 44% stated that “not paying more than necessary” was a key factor in determining the service used, per the Brick Meets Click and Mercatus report.
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Link: https://www.grocerydive.com/news/walmart-us-chief-merchandising-officer-charles-redfield-exits/647836/
After three decades, Redfield is leaving Walmart.
Redfield replaced Scott McCall, who retired from the chief merchant position in January 2022.
Redfield started his career with the retailer as a cashier at Sam’s Club while attending college at the University of Arkansas. There, he was roommates with Walmart Chief Executive Doug McMillon, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Redfield went on to become an assistant manager with Sam’s Club and progressed to further leadership roles within operations and merchandising. By 2010, he was named chief merchandising officer for U.K. subsidiary Asda, and two years later became executive vice president of merchandising for Sam’s Club. Redfield eventually became executive vice president of food for Walmart U.S. and held that position prior to his current role of CMO for Walmart U.S.
“Whether they’re shopping online or in stores, his focus has been ensuring customers can always find the items they need and want at the lowest possible prices,” Furner said in the memo. “Especially as inflation started skyrocketing, Charles and team have worked hard with suppliers to lower prices and give value to customers when they’ve needed it most. He’s built a world-class diverse team that is on track to deliver for the business.”
In a recent post on LinkedIn, Redfield said that his merchandising team was working hard for its customers who look to Walmart for low prices. “I think it’s a truly exciting time to be at Walmart,” he wrote.
The big-box retailer, which has over 5,300 locations, reiterated earlier this month at its annual investor meeting that Walmart’s inventory sits within 10 miles of 90% of the U.S. population. Furner called the company’s stores “the key nodes” in its omnichannel operation.
By the end of fiscal year 2026, Walmart said it expects about 65% of its stores will have automation capabilities, 55% of its fulfillment center volume will move through automated facilities, and unit cost averages could fall by some 20%.
Over the past few weeks the company has been going through rounds of layoffs at distribution centers around the U.S., totaling over 3,000 workers so far.

Been a tech for 15 years, have experience in many different pharmacy settings. I’ve spent the last few years sterile compounding for a specialty medical office so I’ve been out of the real pharmacy world for some time. I’ve recently decided to leave my current job to work at Albertsons/Safeway’s first ever central fill pharmacy. Empty building, actually like setting up this huge warehouse. With my experience & where I’m at in the field, I normally would not consider a production-based operation (I prefer more of a clinical/analytical role) but I love pharmacy automation & innovation. So the thought of being a part of something so new to a company & developing a brand new program really sold me. Not to say most techs wouldn’t be perfectly happy in a closed door, non customer facing job but I’m just nervous I will end up bored & unchallenged. Are there techs out there that have experience in central fill? I would love to hear feedback about your job, pros/cons, big challenges you face and if you enjoy it- all the things!

so I started as a tech trainee at a 24 hours walgreens store at the end of January and all of a sudden they have butchered my hours and have started moving me to overnight without asking (I mentioned it to two pharmacists that I was looking at it, but never confirmed to the RXOM who makes our schedule.. unrelated lol). anyway, I’ve just received a new job offer at albertsons, but I was wondering if all of my worked hours would carry over so I can take the PTCB? how would I go about finding out how many I currently have?
also, if anyone has any experience there: how is the pharmacy at Albertsons? i’m kinda nervous that i’m throwing away a decent position… i don’t even shop at albertsons

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Anyone had a a tetanus ( DPT ) vaccine recently? No issues with making appointment & actually getting shot / wait times/ overall experience etc... { seen comments that Walgreens service / staffing has went downhill) TIA )

Hello!
I'll be graduating this May and do not plan on pursuing residency. I am looking to move to Oregon possibly, in either Portland or Eugene area. I'm not very familiar with pharmacy chains/healthcare systems in Oregon. I have seen jobs with Providence and Albertson's and I was wondering if you guys have any insights on how it is working for these companies. Or just insights/tips about living in Oregon.
​
I appreciate any info you share. Thank you!

Hey all! So a bit of backstory, I used to take Mallinckrodt IR d-amp and was able to get it through a local pharmacy (they are out of business now). I also tried Wilshire around that time and it was passable too. After losing my insurance I had to stop. But now that I have insurance again, I'm trying to get back on it, but all the pharmacies carry crappy generics. The most common side effect I experience is they give me terrible migraines, or sometimes seem to lack potency.
I have tried Aurobindo, Teva, and Sunrise; all of which were awful. I had to stop the Aurobindo and Sunrise they gave me such bad headaches. It could be a coincidence, but I noticed mallinckrodt and Wilshire contain povidone, and none of the other generics I've tried do.
I've seen a number of posts across reddit where people talk about trying different generics and their experiences with them, but usually people don't say what pharmacies they use. I contacted both Wilshire and Mallinckrodt, but they can't tell me what pharmacies carry their products (which is understandable), and won't tell me what distributors they sell to (mallinckrodt claimed it was a "trade secret"). And in calling around to pharmacies, no one's stocks either of these, and all the ones I called refused to do any special orders. I've tried Costco, Walgreens, Albertsons, Rite-Aid, and Walmart with no luck.
Any ideas of where to try next? Or any other generics that are passable?

Just a reminder the AAA credit card gives 3% at Costco, combined with 2% Rewards Costco Executive Membership = 5%
AAA Daily Advantage Visa Signature Credit Card
5% Cash Back Rewards on Grocery purchases. Get one for yourself and another for your partner for $20K spend, plus the SUB x 2.
AAA membership not necessary.
Earn $100 statement credit when spend $1,000 within the first 90 days of opening.
5% cash back on grocery store purchases
3% cash back on gas and electric vehicle-charging stations, wholesale clubs including Costco, streaming services, pharmacy, and purchases at AAA
1% cash back on all other purchases
Combined earn of 5% cash back on grocery store and 3% cash back on wholesale club & gas purchases on the first $10,000 spent in a calendar year, then 1% thereafter.
No annual fee
No foreign transaction fee
Application:
https://www.ace.aaa.com/financial/aaa-credit-card.html
Also, check with the store manager if they'll sell you store gift cards in bulk at discount. Albertsons Vons Pavilions does = 5% off. So, you could stack the AAA and store gift cards for 10% off.
Research if the store offers a store brand credit card and/or app that offers discounts on purchases.
If any of your kids are of working age, put them to work - store employees get discounts too! :-)
Finally, for those who often purchase prescriptions, store gift cards are probably valid for those purchases too!

There's a nation wide shortage of ADHD medications and I'm out of mine. My regular pharmacy has had it on back order for 3 weeks now and doesn't know when they'll receive more. I've called more than 10 other pharmacies and they're on backorder too. Does anyone have any suggestions for non-chain pharmacies? Walmart, Frys, Albertsons, CVS and Walgreens are all out.
Thanks!

Just following up with my last post. It's been a shit show but I finally got a job. Got three offers at the same time from three different stores (Walgreens, Randalls-Albertson and Walmart) and I decided to go with Walmart and I'm having my orientation soon. I'm so excited! Thank you all for all the advice and encouragement! I really needed them! I'm now working on my online course, studying for the PTCE and planning on taking it sometime in late March or early April.
If you have any tips on working at Walmart or studying for the PTCB, please feel free to share! Again thank you all so much!

Idk what to do, the shortage is really coming through this time. I recently just attained MedicAid, and I used to get my script filled by Costco, but they said they don’t take MedicAid. I’ve called 10 pharmacies(CVS, Walgreens, Albertsons, Walmart,…), I’m out of luck. I’m a UNLV student, and it’s guarantee that my grades will falter if I don’t have my prescriptions filled. What should I do?

The shortage of adderall around my area is ridiculous! I live in Dallas, Texas and I have called Krogers, Albertsons, CVS, Walgreens, Tom Thumb, etc. with no luck. I had to call family pharmacies and because of the shortage, they can’t accept new patients for this specific medication. I mean I called Grapevine, Weatherford, Duncanville, McKinney, Flowermound… literally everywhere that was up to an hour drive with no traffic.
I decided to check this pharmacy I went to a long time ago in Richardson owned by Russian people, surely they’d help a Russian brother out?! All out. And then, right as I was giving up, i saw this pharmacy called Sina Rx Pharmacy. Called them and they told me they were fully in stock of everything! Called my doctor and had him transfer it there, got my prescription within 2 hours. Now with my meds, I feel like a new man (or woman I should say).
Two month back order… TWO MONTHS EVERYWHERE with no estimate of when the next shipment will come. I read on the news it could take up until spring for most. It’s crazy, my life has been great with adderall and I can only imagine how it’s affecting people who can’t get them.
So if you live in Texas, go to Sina Rx, you can find them inside a Fiesta supermarket. Just spreading the info for anyone who is having some trouble! I went to the one in Dallas off of Spring Valley Road.

Here is a very long summary (with links) of the status of our state’s many lawsuits related to the opioid crisis. I was wondering what’s happening and compiled this list. I barely knew of any of these and figured I wasn’t the only one. Most surprising was the depth involvement of Johnson and Johnson.
Johnson and Johnson
https://www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/ag-ferguson-sues-opioid-manufacturer-johnson-johnson-over-state-s-opioid-epidemic
From the 1990’s until at least 2016, Johnson & Johnson, through its subsidiaries, cultivated and processed opium poppy plants and used their raw narcotic materials to manufacture the active ingredients necessary to produce opioid drugs.
Johnson & Johnson worked to develop a poppy plant strain, known as the Norman poppy, that was high in thebaine, the raw material needed to produce many opioid drugs, including oxycodone. Internally, Johnson & Johnson called the Norman poppy “a transformational technology that enabled the growth of oxycodone.”
Walmart
https://www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/ag-ferguson-walmart-pay-626-million-washington-its-role-opioid-epidemic
Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced today that he signed onto a resolution with Walmart that will bring an estimated $62.6 million to Washington state.
As part of the resolution, Walmart will tightly monitor opioid prescriptions and prevent patients from seeking multiple prescriptions.
McKesson, Cardinal Health, Amerisource
https://www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/ag-ferguson-opioid-distributors-pay-518-million-washington
Ferguson’s lawsuit against McKesson, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen asserted that the three Fortune 15 companies made billions of dollars feeding the opioid epidemic, shipping huge amounts of oxycodone, fentanyl, hydrocodone and other prescription opioids into the state even when they knew or should have known those drugs were likely to end up in the hands of drug dealers and those suffering from substance use disorder.
Purdue
https://www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/result-ag-ferguson-s-challenge-sacklers-purdue-settlement-washington-will-receive
By challenging the original bankruptcy plan, Ferguson and eight other attorneys general won an additional $1.175 billion from the Sacklers to help states, cities and tribes address the harms of the opioid epidemic. Washington’s share will more than double as a result of Ferguson challenging to the bankruptcy plan —from $70 million under the original plan to $183 million.
Mallinckrodt
https://www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/ag-ferguson-recovers-more-17-million-opioid-manufacturer-mallinckrodt-will-be
Mallinckrodt’s corporate headquarters are in Ireland, but it is one of the largest manufacturers of generic drugs in the U.S. It manufactures opioids similar to brand name drugs like oxycodone. A U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency database showed one of its subsidiary companies provided 28.9 billion oxycodone pills across the country from 2006 to 2012, more than 80 for each person in the United States.
McKinsey
https://www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/ag-ferguson-will-direct-135-million-mckinsey-lawsuit-toward-treatment-prevention
As a consultant for Purdue Pharmaceuticals, McKinsey discussed ways for Purdue to “turbocharge” sales of OxyContin. McKinsey proposed that Purdue pay rebates for overdoses linked to the pills they sold. After McKinsey came under scrutiny for its role in the opioid epidemic, two senior partners at McKinsey discussed purging records related to Purdue.
Albertson’s, Kroger, RiteAid
https://www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/ag-ferguson-files-lawsuits-against-three-national-pharmacy-chains-their-role
The lawsuit asserts they collectively ignored federal regulations, put profits over safety and knowingly oversupplied prescription opioids into Washington state. This oversupply led to a separate illegal market that flooded communities with highly addictive and dangerous drugs and local governments are still coping with the damage these pharmacies helped.

Is anyone else being affected by this “national spiro shortage”? I recently got BACK on hormones (for the third time(long story)) and have been waiting 3 weeks for CVS to fill my 50mg 90 day spironolactone prescription. When I first called they told me no CVS in 20 miles had any, and to try another pharmacy. Walmart, Walgreens, Vons, Albertsons, all the same story. Calling again on tuesday, they said to ask my doctor to change to something else, so I did and havent heard back. One of the pharmacies told me this was a national problem, so I just wanted to see if anyone else was experiencing this, and what if anything have you done about it? Thanks all <3