As reported by dunya.com, Turkish supermarket Bim has more than 5000 stores at home and abroad. They are now continuing their expansion in to Morocco and Egypt, according to figures from the end of last year, the company has a total of 162 stores opening in the two countries, in order to increase the number of stores abroad from 367 stores to 529. The retail chain started in 1995 and now has 4,800 stores open in Turkey.
US: Roundy's launches 'Wisconsin Proud' campaignMilwaukee-based Roundy's Inc. is launching “Wisconsin Proud,” a new Pick 'n Save promotional campaign to showcase its Wisconsin products and Wisconsin roots, biztimes.com reports. Through its long-standing relationships with farmers, as well as its partnership with the Wisconsin Food Hub Cooperative, Pick ’n Save works with more than 100 local farmers, offering Wisconsin customers locally grown produce.
Walmart Canada is launching a grocery pickup The mass merchant said Friday that it has hired a team of dedicated grocery shoppers to hand pick perishable and non perishable grocery items such as meat and fruit for consumers who place online orders at the participating locations on Walmart.ca, business.financialpost.com reports. The service takes orders up to 21 days in advance and carries a pickup fee of $3.
France: Leclerc’s market share increases 0.4 points in June
Rayon-boissons.com reports that Leclerc’s market share has continued to increase in June (0.4 points between 18th May-14th June) reaching 20.4%. Lidl and Leader price also record a 0.2 point increase. Lidl’s market share reaches 4.7% whilst Leader Price’s market share reaches 2.4%. Géant supermarkets are reported to show an increasing customer loyalty. Intermarché, Système U, Provera and Aldi are stable. US: Albertsons sets eight openings, 115 remodels in 2015
Albertsons said Wednesday it expects to open eight new and replacement stores and to remodel 115 existing stores by the end of the year, supermarketnews.com reports. The company said earlier this year it planned to invest more than $1bn to improve stores, manufacturing facilities, distribution centers and offices.US: New concept store in Califonia
Daly City on Wednesday became the testing ground for a new concept supermarket that aims to change the grocery shopping experience, kron4.com reports. Lucky Supermarkets unveiled its new store on Mission Street, called “Lucky California.” The idea is to offer customers what Lucky officials say will be a fusion of Bay Area culture and California grown products. Save Mart, Lucky’s parent company, says it has found shoppers are turning to more specialty stores instead of the traditional grocery stores of a decade ago. So the new concept store is designed to offer consumers more choices including gourmet shops, farmers markets, as well as items found in big box stores. The company says it hopes the new idea will cut down on the number of places shoppers need to go, by offering a wide range of eclectic products. Officials say the plan is to eventually rebrand and renovate the other 72 Lucky stores in the Bay Area. Portugal: Auchan to expand through franchising
Despite the challenges in the market, Auchan still sees Portugal as attractive and is targeting the addition of 80 new stores over the next four and a half years, igd.com reports. Auchan has said that franchising will be focused on the Pão de Açúcar supermarket banner, with eight to 10 franchised stores aiming to be open by the end of 2015, 15 additional franchise stores in 2016 and 20 more annually by 2019.Sonae acquires stake in Spain-based online grocer
Sonae has announced that it has invested €5m in Spain-based online grocery retailer Ulabox, becoming one of Ulabox’s main shareholders as a result, igd.com reports. Ulabox was launched in 2011 and has grown sales to €4m by the end of 2014, doubling the figure from 2013, by enabling 35,000 active shoppers to buy from its range of 12,500 SKU’s. Ulabox guarantees 24 hour delivery of orders and can make deliveries within one hour of ordering due to its logistics and distribution systems in Barcelona and Madrid. 
7-Eleven launches delivery service7-Eleven said Wednesday it has begun offering a delivery service to customers in San Francisco and Oakland, Calif., with plans to expand to Austin, Chicago Los Angeles, New York and Washington D.C. later this year, supermarketnews.com reports.
UK: Price rise for basket of groceries
Although the increase is just a few pence - up from £86.60 in May to £86.84 in June - the groceries website mySupermarket.co.uk said it was closely monitoring whether this marked the beginning of price increases. However, the cost of the average basket of 35 commonly-bought items remains 5.5% less expensive than in June last year, when it cost £91.88, the website's Groceries Tracker shows, expressandstar.com reports. The products that increased in price the most between May and June were onions, up 11%, bananas, up 5%, and carrots, up 4.3%. Items seeing the biggest drop in price were broccoli, down 17.3%, pasta, down 5%, and mushrooms, down 3.7%. MySupermarket chief executive Gilad Simhony said: "Although there has been only a slight increase we are closely monitoring whether this marks the beginning of price increases at supermarkets, unseen during the recent period of supermarket price wars.Lidl has received almost $1bn in public development funding
The German discount supermarket Lidl and its sister chain Kaufland have benefited from almost $900m (£576m) in public development money over the past decade, the Guardian can reveal. The companies, owned by the large retail company Schwarz Group and controlled by one of Germany’s wealthiest families, received loan funding from a little-known wing of the World Bank and from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), theguardian.com reports. CA: Talks resume between Loblaw, unions
Talks between Loblaw Cos. Ltd. and its unionized workers resumed Thursday, a day after workers at 9 stores in southern Ontario went on strike and more were threatening similar action at stores in the Greater Toronto Area, thestar.com reports. The United Food and Commercial Workers union said they went back to the bargaining table at the behest of the provincial labour ministry.US: Food code for retailers updated
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has released a supplement to the 2013 Food Code. The update uses the recommendations that government officials, consumers, and university experts put forward at the 2014 Biennial Meeting of the Conference for Food Protection, according to a news release from the FDA, thepacker.com reports. Please, click here to read more. Interesting links about retail:
Winning over shoppers in China's "New Normal"Click here to read the article.
Six ways Carrefour is driving growthClick here to read the article..
Comment: China dominates global online grocery marketsClick here to read the article.
Spain: Eroski strategy update Click here to read the article.