Top Retailers

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.

NEW YORK — Fred’s Super Dollar has visited CVS Caremark, Dollar General and Walgreens seeking bids for its Southeastern chain of discount stores, according to a report published Friday by Bloomberg News. 

Buyout firms including Miami-based H.I.G. Capital also were contacted, the report added.

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.

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. 

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 — Sam's Club is piloting a new online subscription service — My Subscriptions — that allows consumers to automatically replenish consumables like diapers or printer cartridges, The Wall Street Journal's Market Watch reported Wednesday. 

ZAANDAM, The Netherlands — Ahold announced plans to significantly expand its Peapod presence in the U.S. market when announcing fourth-quarter results on Thursday. "Peapod is expected to double its capacity in the U.S. in 2014," Dick Boer, Ahold CEO, told analysts. 

FORT WASHINGTON, Pa. — Nutrisystem will make a national retail launch in 2014, noted Dawn Zier, Nutrisystem president and CEO, during a conference call Wednesday. The company already has distribution through 2,500 Walmart locations and will be introducing its weight loss kits into Target in the second quarter.