KROGER

WALTHAM, Mass. — Kroger now is offering its shoppers the ability to redeem SavingStar e-coupons when they use their Kroger Plus Card at checkout.

According to a press release from SavingStar, it is the only national paperless grocery coupon service, and the addition of Kroger to the SavingStar network of retailers increases the number of grocery and drug stores offering their customers digital coupons through SavingStar to more than 24,000 stores nationwide.

CINCINNATI — Kroger has named Keith Dailey as the company's external corporate communications director.

According to the company, Dailey will oversee national media communications for Kroger, which operates 2,458 supermarkets and multidepartment stores in 31 states under two dozen local banner names.

Serving as the spokesman for such a large company should come easy to Dailey. As the communications director for former Ohio governor Ted Strickland, Dailey likely had his fair share of media issues to tackle.

ISSAQUAH, Wash. — TalkingRain Beverage said it is bringing its Sparkling Ice brand to Kroger stores and the retailer's other supermarket banners.

Sparkling Ice will hit the shelves of Kroger, King Soopers, Ralphs, QFC, Fred Meyer, Frys, Dillons and Smith's across the country. Sparkling Ice, which blends together mountain spring water, fruit juice and carbonation, is available in orange mango, black raspberry, lemon lime, pomegranate berry, pink grapefruit and kiwi strawberry flavors, and in 17-oz. and 1-liter containers.

In retailing, it’s a given that a long-term, severe recession will cut through the ranks of food, drug and general merchandise retailers like a scythe through wheat, pushing weaker players out of the market as consumer spending dries up and Darwinian realities winnow the field. But it’s also true that the strongest merchants can emerge not only intact, but also with even brighter prospects if they innovate, invest and retain the loyalty of their customers.


HOUSTON — Kroger's Southwest division, which consists of 208 stores in Texas and Louisiana, announced that it is continuing to reduce waste and conserve energy by moving forward with sustainable practices by renewing its three-step approach.

CINCINNATI — Kroger is the latest retailer to join the Diabetes Prevention and Control Alliance as a partner.

The supermarket conglomerate will implement the DPCA's Diabetes Control Program, which is designed to help patients gain better control of their condition, at select store pharmacies, including stores in the Cincinnati, Columbus and Dayton, Ohio, markets. The retailer also will offer the program in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and Las Vegas later this year.

LOS ANGELES — Two Kroger banners have raised funds to benefit Japan earthquake and tsunami victims.

Ralphs and Food 4 Less said they raised more than $100,000 for the American Red Cross' International Response Fund for its Japan relief efforts. The retailers hosted a fundraising campaign that ran from March 21 through April 9.

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. ­— The Little Clinic has announced the appointment of Kenneth Patric as its new chief medical officer, providing medical oversight and management, and overseeing the development and implementation, of new clinical programs and initiatives for The Little Clinic on a national level.