• The Cincinnati Business Courier reports that Kroger “is offering up to $1 million in grants for ideas that will help it achieve its mission to prevent food waste.” It made the commitment while launching its Zero Hunger | Zero Waste Innovation Fund, which is designed to “eliminate hunger in the communities it serves by 2025 and to eliminate waste across the company, including food waste.”
According to the story, “Kroger will award grants from $25,000 to $250,000 per project in this first open call for ideas. Applicants are required to submit a letter of intent by March 4 detailing their ideas and solutions to prevent food waste.”
“Achieving Zero Hunger | Zero Waste requires creative ideas and scalable solutions to disrupt the food system as we know it,” says Jessica Adelman, Kroger’s group vice president of corporate affairs.
• The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Ahold Delhaize-owned Giant Food Stores, which has just opened its first urban format, Giant Heirloom Market, in Philadelphia, has announced plans for three more such stores in the city - in the University City, Northern Liberties, and Queen Village neighborhoods.
Company president Nicholas Bertram tells the Inquirer that “while the new stores will include many of the successful products featured at the recently opened 2303 Bainbridge St. location, they will also adapt to each neighborhood … The University City location, for example, will have more grab-and-go meals and breakfast options, and intends to accept the Drexel University and University of Pennsylvania student cards, the DragonCard and PennCard, as payment.”
“It proves that we are serious about serving Philadelphians. We’ve already got a strong e-commerce business, we love our store on Grant Avenue [in the Northeast], and we love our business in the suburbs,” Bertram says, noting that with the Heirloom Market format, “we’re flexing our innovative muscles a bit more than we have in the past.”
• Reuters reports that JC Penney will “stop selling major appliances, including fridges and washing machines, and revamp the layout of its stores in a bid to focus on apparel to boost profits. The company also plans to largely halt selling furniture, which will now only be available in select stores in Puerto Rico and on J.C. Penney websites.”
“"Optimizing the allocation of store space will enable us to prioritize and focus on the company's legacy strengths in apparel and soft home furnishings, which represent higher margin opportunities," the company said in a statement.
• The Associated Press reports that a new outdoors-oriented online retailer, Highby Outdoors, has been launched by former employees of Cabela’s, which was acquired by Bass Pro Shops for $4 billion in 2017.
According to the story, “Highby Outdoors is owned by former Cabela's employees Matt and Molly Highby, and he says all of the company's employees formerly worked for Cabela's. The new company will sell online only for now but hopes to later add retail locations and catalog operations.”
Bass Pro Shops is suing the Highbys, “alleging their plans for Highby Outdoors violated noncompete agreements. Bass Pro lost its bid for an injunction to stop the Highby Outdoors launch.”
• The New York Times reports that the city of Key West, Florida, “voted this week to ban the sale of sunscreen containing chemicals believed to harm coral reefs,” a move that “will ban sales of sunscreens containing the chemicals oxybenzone and octinoxate. The legislation will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2021.”
According to the story, “The law’s supporters see it as a crucial step toward protecting the great treasure of the Florida Keys: the world’s third-largest barrier reef ecosystem, which runs nearly 150 miles, hosts thousands of species of marine life, and attracts divers and snorkelers from around the globe.”
Similar bans have also been enacted in Hawaii and the Western Pacific nation of Palau, as well as certain parts of Mexico.
According to the story, “Kroger will award grants from $25,000 to $250,000 per project in this first open call for ideas. Applicants are required to submit a letter of intent by March 4 detailing their ideas and solutions to prevent food waste.”
“Achieving Zero Hunger | Zero Waste requires creative ideas and scalable solutions to disrupt the food system as we know it,” says Jessica Adelman, Kroger’s group vice president of corporate affairs.
• The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Ahold Delhaize-owned Giant Food Stores, which has just opened its first urban format, Giant Heirloom Market, in Philadelphia, has announced plans for three more such stores in the city - in the University City, Northern Liberties, and Queen Village neighborhoods.
Company president Nicholas Bertram tells the Inquirer that “while the new stores will include many of the successful products featured at the recently opened 2303 Bainbridge St. location, they will also adapt to each neighborhood … The University City location, for example, will have more grab-and-go meals and breakfast options, and intends to accept the Drexel University and University of Pennsylvania student cards, the DragonCard and PennCard, as payment.”
“It proves that we are serious about serving Philadelphians. We’ve already got a strong e-commerce business, we love our store on Grant Avenue [in the Northeast], and we love our business in the suburbs,” Bertram says, noting that with the Heirloom Market format, “we’re flexing our innovative muscles a bit more than we have in the past.”
• Reuters reports that JC Penney will “stop selling major appliances, including fridges and washing machines, and revamp the layout of its stores in a bid to focus on apparel to boost profits. The company also plans to largely halt selling furniture, which will now only be available in select stores in Puerto Rico and on J.C. Penney websites.”
“"Optimizing the allocation of store space will enable us to prioritize and focus on the company's legacy strengths in apparel and soft home furnishings, which represent higher margin opportunities," the company said in a statement.
• The Associated Press reports that a new outdoors-oriented online retailer, Highby Outdoors, has been launched by former employees of Cabela’s, which was acquired by Bass Pro Shops for $4 billion in 2017.
According to the story, “Highby Outdoors is owned by former Cabela's employees Matt and Molly Highby, and he says all of the company's employees formerly worked for Cabela's. The new company will sell online only for now but hopes to later add retail locations and catalog operations.”
Bass Pro Shops is suing the Highbys, “alleging their plans for Highby Outdoors violated noncompete agreements. Bass Pro lost its bid for an injunction to stop the Highby Outdoors launch.”
• The New York Times reports that the city of Key West, Florida, “voted this week to ban the sale of sunscreen containing chemicals believed to harm coral reefs,” a move that “will ban sales of sunscreens containing the chemicals oxybenzone and octinoxate. The legislation will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2021.”
According to the story, “The law’s supporters see it as a crucial step toward protecting the great treasure of the Florida Keys: the world’s third-largest barrier reef ecosystem, which runs nearly 150 miles, hosts thousands of species of marine life, and attracts divers and snorkelers from around the globe.”
Similar bans have also been enacted in Hawaii and the Western Pacific nation of Palau, as well as certain parts of Mexico.
- KC's View:
