Top Retailers

PLEASANTON, Calif. — Safeway on Thursday evening may have posted what analysts have described as disappointing earnings, but that's not stopping Wall Street from recognizing the value Safeway is unlocking with its exit from a pair of markets — Chicago and Canada. After closing at $31.57 Thursday, Safeway's stock was selling at more than $2 higher early Friday afternoon, and at least one analyst has targeted $40 as the potential inherent in Safeway stock. 

It's been the week of the dollar store. Dollar General opened store No. 11,000 last week, and Family Dollar continues to reinvent its brand relevance with the consumer as the company posted monster gains for its fiscal fourth quarter and the year, driven by store experimentation, remodels and the introduction 1,000 SKUs, including many health and beauty items. 

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens recently fine-tuned its merchandising leadership structure, most notably elevating Jim Jensen to VP daily living implementation and space planning, where he will be looking at maximizing merchandising initiatives against space optimization in the stores. Moe Alkemade will assume the role of general merchandise manager handling seasonal, sundries and consumables; and Beth Stiller has been named group VP retail brands and global sourcing. 

All appointments are effective Nov. 4. 

By November, Walgreens will have completed fine-tuning its management structure for maximum effectiveness in realizing its three-pronged strategy. That strategy includes improving the front-end experience through retail theater. It includes establishing the pharmacist as the go-to source for healthcare, not just for the patient but for the payer, too.

Fifteen years of ExtraCare data is influencing everything from how the company builds stores to how it communicates with customers.

CHICAGO — You can say the big winner was literally out of this world.

Unilever’s Axe Apollo Astronaut floorstand, designed by RockTenn Merchandising Displays, was named the Design of the Times 2013 Platinum Award Winner by Path to Purchase Institute judges, during a special awards ceremony Wednesday evening, here at the annual Shopper Marketing Expo. 

LANDOVER, Md. — Giant Food of Landover, Md., presented its first-ever Giant Food NextGen Award for Children's Cancer Research this week, created for young investigators committed to pursuing a long-term career in pediatric oncology research.

NEW YORK — A listing of the 500 most innovative users of information technology, as determined by industry magazine InformationWeek, includes the country's largest retail pharmacy chain and a major dollar-store chain.

On the recently released InformationWeek 500, Walgreens ranked 89th, and Dollar General ranked in 98th place.