KROGER

DALLAS — Kroger on Wednesday lowered prices on thousands of food and household items and renewed an emphasis on shopping experience, fuel discounts, local products and community relations in the Dallas market, the retailer announced. Within the next two years, Kroger will build six new stores and expand three locations, along with opening multiple fuel centers and remodeling existing properties in the North Texas area. 

WABAN, Mass. — Based on a study of 10,000 U.S consumers, H-E-B, Trader Joe's, Chick-fil-A and Publix earned the highest scores in the 2014 Temkin Experience Ratings, ranking 268 companies across 19 industries. Joining those firms in the top 14 spots are Aldi, Food Lion, Sonic Drive-In, credit unions, Dairy Queen, Kroger, Piggly Wiggly, Regions, Sam's Club and Starbucks.

Following speculation that Safeway may be considering "strategic alternatives," Safeway executives during their latest conference call confirmed just that — the supermarket retailer placed itself on the sales block.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Little Clinic, which operates 114 retail-based health clinics in seven states, has selected VisualDx, a mobile app and online resource used by doctors to diagnose and treat disease, to enhance the care its staff provides to patients, VisualDx maker Logical Images announced.

The Little Clinic, which is a subsidiary of Kroger, has clinics inside Kroger stores in Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Ohio; King Soopers in Colorado, Fry’s Food Stores in Arizona and JayC in Indiana.

CINCINNATI — Kroger on Thursday announced that its total active work force has grown by more than 7,000 during fiscal year 2013. Approximately 90% of the new jobs are in the company's supermarket divisions.

NEW YORK — Deutsche Bank on Thursday speculated that either Cerberus or Kroger could acquire Safeway. 

The firm noted that divestitures in a Kroger acquisition would exceed those in a Cerberus buyout.  

A Bloomberg report published last week suggested Cerberus was the lead bidder for Safeway's operations. 

TAMPA, Fla. — Not Your Mother’s hair care is starting off the year with a bang as it adds more than 10,000 new U.S. retail locations and nearly doubles its SKU count for 2014.

The brand has expanded from approximately 15,000 U.S. retail locations to more than 25,000 in the first quarter of 2014.   

PLEASANTON, Calif. — Safeway on Wednesday afternoon confirmed it is in discussions concerning a possible transaction involving the sale of the company. However, the company declined to comment further at this time. "Although the discussions are ongoing, the company has not reached an agreement on a transaction, and there can be no assurance that these discussions will lead to an agreement or a completed transaction," Safeway stated as part of its earnings release.