Albertsons

CARLISLE, Pa. — The Federal Trade Commission has approved Giant Food Stores' proposal to acquire 15 Genuardi's stores from Safeway.

The announcement follows Giant's Jan. 5 announcement that it would acquire the Genuardi's stores, all of which are located in the greater Philadelphia market. Giant also noted that under the terms of a consent order approved by the FTC, the Genuardi's located in Newtown, Pa., will be purchased by Newtown Market and will be operated as a McCaffrey's supermarket.

PLEASANTON, Calif. — Safeway on Wednesday announced that it has transitioned to using reusable product containers, rather than corrugated boxes, to ship many types of produce from the farm fields, through the distribution channel and to the final store destination.

This transition eliminated the use of more than 17 million pounds of corrugated boxes, the grocer reported.

PLEASANTON, Calif. — Safeway is gearing up to launch five filtered coffee pods that can be used in Green Mountain Coffee Roasters' Keurig brewing system, according to published reports.

Reuters said Tuesday that a Safeway spokesman confirmed that the new private-label cups will differ from the retailer's current offering, which were launched earlier this year.

PLEASANTON, Calif. — Safeway and its charitable arm have launched their annual prostate cancer awareness campaign this month.

BOISE, Idaho — Albertsons LLC has implemented an in-store program that will allow customers to scan a QR code using their smartphones to access recipes with tips for grilling Steakhouse Choice cuts of meat.

PORTLAND, Ore., and SEATTLE — Safeway has launched an online and mobile shopping tool that is designed to give customers an easier way to save on groceries.

Just for U, launched in the chain's Oregon and Washington divisions, delivers targeted savings directly to a customer's Safeway club card. Deals are offered on items a shopper most frequently buys, as well as items they might be interested in — providing savings of up to 10% to 20% more than by using a Safeway club card alone, Safeway said.

BOISE, Idaho — Albertsons LLC has announced that it is making a $56,000 donation to the Salvation Army’s disaster relief efforts in the South and Midwest, following the series of spring tornadoes that impacted the area.

The campaign, which began on April 4 and concluded on April 30, allowed customers to select a $1, $3 or $5 donation coupon while paying for their groceries.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — More retail websites this year achieved a "threshold for excellence" on customer experience analytics firm ForeSee's annual Top 100 E-Retail Satisfaction Index.

ForeSee reported that 36-out-of-100 online retailers achieved a satisfaction score of 80 or higher, compared with 28-out-of-100 websites that received the distinction last year. Although Amazon.com topped the list with a 2012 satisfaction score of 89 — up three points from 2011 — many other retailers, particularly retail pharmacies and grocery retailers, earned a high score: