Ahold

LANDOVER, Md. — Giant-Landover donated 1,000 turkeys to a nearby food bank last week to help families in need enjoy Thanksgiving, the Ahold-owned chain said.

The chain, officially known as Giant Food and based in Landover, Md., sent President Anthony Hucker and VP Finance Brian Shelton to the Capital Area Food Bank to present 1,000 turkeys on Friday. Shelton is also a board member of the food bank.

PURCHASE, N.Y. — Stop & Shop donated more than $250,000 to the American Cancer Society to support breast cancer research, education and awareness in October, the supermarket chain announced Tuesday.

AMSTERDAM, the Netherlands — Royal Ahold has appointed a new COO for its U.S. subsidiary, the company said Thursday.

Ahold, based in the Netherlands, announced that it had appointed James McCann as COO of Ahold USA, effective Jan. 1, 2013, replacing Carl Schlicker, who has announced his retirement. McCann, a 43-year-old native of the United Kingdom and currently Ahold's chief commercial and development officer who will continue as a member of the company's corporate board, began working for Ahold in 2011.

NEW YORK — The Northeast is still recovering from one of the worst disasters it has ever faced. Many residents remain without electrical power, while others have lost their entire homes, businesses, workplaces and in a growing number of cases, their lives.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — News flash: Retailers get the idea that attracting today's consumer means going multichannel.

(THE NEWS: Retailers plan to spend more on e-commerce this year. Click here for the story.)

QUINCY, Mass. — An event sponsored earlier this week by supermarket chain Stop & Shop provided information to kids designed to encourage them to live healthier lifestyles.

The Healthy Kids Summit, which took place Monday at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass., attracted more than 300 residents, customers, families and children and featured guidance from community and health experts, such as New England Patriots safety Patrick Chung and leaders from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the YMCA.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — With shoppers looking for ways to buy things more conveniently, it's clear that the age of the multichannel consumer is well under way, and retailers would be wise to respond in kind. Many of them have already done so.

According to retail consulting firm Upstream Commerce, convenience ranks at the top of reasons why consumers shop online, and as recent news has shown, this is just as true for supermarkets as it is for anyone else.

QUINCY, Mass. — Stop & Shop is opening a new store that will include new features that emphasize customer experience, the company said.

Stop & Shop, a division of the U.S. subsidiary of Dutch supermarket operator Ahold, said the Wayland, Mass., store would include nine complementary electric car charging stations, as well as numerous energy-efficient features. The store's grand opening is scheduled for Nov. 16.