Top Retailers

CINCINNATI — Kroger on Monday named Reuben Shaffer the grocer’s new chief diversity officer, effective immediately.

“Diversity is a core value at Kroger,” stated David Dillon, Kroger chairman and CEO. “We take our commitment to diversity seriously, both because it is right and because it makes us better at our business. When our decision-making is inclusive and reflects the diversity of our customers, we make better decisions.”

MATTHEWS, N.C. — Activist investor Bill Ackman, and his Pershing Square Capital Management investment fund, has become the largest owner of Family Dollar stock, according to a regulatory filing.

The filing noted that Ackman has bought a stake of 8.9%.

The news follows just a few months after the retailer turned down an active takeover bid by Nelson Peltz's Trian Fund.

WOONSOCKET, R.I., and COLUMBUS, Ohio — MinuteClinic has entered a clinical affiliation with OhioHealth, a not-for-profit, charitable healthcare organization based in Columbus. MinuteClinic has seven walk-in medical clinics inside select CVS/pharmacy stores throughout the region.

AMSTERDAM — Sales for Dutch supermarket operator Royal Ahold increased 5.9% to $13.3 billion in first quarter 2011, the company said.

This compared with first quarter 2010 sales of $12.6 billion at Ahold, which operates the Giant-Carlisle, Giant-Landover and Stop & Shop chains in the United States, as well as online grocer Peapod. Profits for the quarter were $419.1 million, a 6.2% increase over $394.6 million in 2010.

Sales for Ahold USA were $7.6 billion, a 7.4% increase over first quarter 2010. Same-store sales increased by 5% over last year.

SAN FRANCISCO — Health 2.0 and Walgreens on Thursday announced the launch of the Walgreens 2011 Challenge: A New Approach to Patient Information Navigation, which invites teams of developers to create an application that presents aggregated U.S. Department of Health and Human Services data on specific health topics.

The challenge is being sponsored by Walgreens, as part of the Health 2.0 Developer Challenge, as a way to supply both Walgreens healthcare staff and patients with a tool for searching and learning about health-related topics, the companies stated.

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — MinuteClinic and Cleveland Clinic Florida, a multispecialty academic medical center that is part of the Cleveland Clinic health system, have entered into a clinical affiliation to enhance the healthcare services they provide and offer patients greater access to care.

PLEASANTON, Calif. — Safeway is bringing Coinstar's self-service coin-counting kiosks to its U.S. and Canadian stores, the supermarket retailer announced Thursday.

Safeway said it agreed to install 1,400 Coinstar kiosks by the end of 2011, with installations slated to begin this month in Safeway stores and its banners, including Vons, Dominick's, Randalls, Tom Thumb, Genuardi's, Pavilions, Carrs and Pak N' Save.

LOS ANGELES — Skin by Monica, an all-natural line of skin and hair care products for women, men and babies, is expanding its distribution and will be available in select Walgreens locations in August.