Ahold

QUINCY, Mass. — A Northeastern supermarket chain has made a business magazine's list of the top 10 most innovative companies in the food industry.

LANCASTER, Pa. — One of the supermarket chains operated by Netherlands-based Royal Ahold has installed rooftop solar panels at two of its stores.

Carlisle, Pa.-based Giant Food Stores — also known as Giant-Carlisle to distinguish it from Landover, Md.-based Giant Food, also owned by Ahold — said it had installed solar photovoltaic systems at stores in Lancaster and Pottstown, Pa.

LANDOVER, Md. — Supermarket chain Giant Food has acquired two supermarkets in the Baltimore area from another company, Giant said.

Giant, also known as Giant-Landover to distinguish itself from Giant Food Stores of Carlisle, Pa. — both are owned by Netherlands-based Royal Ahold — said it would buy two Fresh & Green's stores from Mrs. Green's Management. The stores are in Baltimore and Parkville, Md.

Both stores will subsequently be closed for remodeling, and the Baltimore store will replace a Giant store at a nearby shopping center.

SOUTHPORT, Conn. — Walmart ranked No. 1 out of six retail pharmacy operators who were identified as part of the “Top 50 Organizations for Multicultural Business Opportunities" by DiversityBusiness.com last week. Other pharmacy retailers on the list included, in order, Kroger, Supervalu, Target, Walgreens and Ahold USA.

CHICAGO — SymphonyIRI Group on Thursday identified the executives sitting on its new board of directors, including the naming of Lawrence Benjamin as chairman.

A 25-year veteran, Benjamin most recently held several executive positions at Royal Ahold, including CEO of U.S. foodservice, COO of Ahold's U.S. retail businesses, EVP and a seat on the company's global board. Previously, he was CEO for NutraSweet and president of the frozen meals division of Kraft. Benjamin currently is a senior adviser at New Mountain Capital.

AMSTERDAM — Ahold experienced several bright spots during its fourth quarter and full year, the Dutch supermarket company said.

Fourth-quarter net sales totaled $9.4 billion, a 4.5% increase above the year-ago period, while net sales for the year increased by 2.5% to $39.1 billion.

DULUTH, Ga. — The U.S. division of an Amsterdam-based supermarket conglomerate has tapped NCR for a solution to manage the stores' offers and promotions to customers.

PLEASANTON, Calif. — Safeway on Thursday announced the sale of 16 of its Genuardi's stores in the greater Philadelphia area to Giant Food Stores, a division of Ahold USA. Safeway will continue to operate these stores until the transaction closes, and the company is working through an orderly transition for all of these stores.

In addition, Safeway plans to close three Genuardi's stores and sell the remaining eight Genuardi's stores, which it will continue to operate while it is working with potential buyers.