After 18 months, Amazon Fresh to expand in US and UK

Weis Markets on Tuesday said it has entered into an agreement with Mars Super Markets to purchase five Mars stores in Baltimore County, Md. The stores include two in Dundalk and individual units in Essex, Arbutus and Carney. Once the purchase is complete, Weis Markets, based in Sunbury, Pa., will operate nine stores in Baltimore County, essentially doubling its footprint in the region. (supermarketnews.com)

Shoprite Holdings Ltd. plans to invest $572m on new supermarkets and business units in Angola, as Africa’s largest food retailer expands in fast-growing sub-Saharan markets. The grocer will also upgrade its existing chain of Angolan stores. (Bloomberg)

Consumers have spoken, and when it comes to supermarkets, Publix and H-E-B were ranked highest by consumers in the 2016 Temkin Experience Ratings for supermarkets, an annual ranking of companies based on a 10,000-consumer survey, drugstorenews.com reports. The supermarket 2016 Temkin Experience Ratings are:

Marks & Spencer Group Plc chief Steve Rowe’s strategy to reboot the retailer’s moribund clothing business got a cool reception from investors, with the stock falling the most in seven years amid concerns the plan will hurt short-term profits and doesn’t address some key decisions. On the food side of the business, M&S plans to ramp up expansion of its successful Simply Food convenience outlets. In addition to the 250 stores the company plans to open by March 2017, M&S will open about 100 outlets in each of the following two financial years. (esmmagazine.com)

Reitangruppen has appointed Nordea ‘to explore the opportunity to sell’ part of its stake in Sweden's Axfood. The bank has been appointed to look into options for the disposal of a 5% stake in Axfood, while Reitangruppen holds a 12.3% stake in total. The retailer has committed not to divest any more shares within 90 days. (esmmagazine.com)

France's competition authority is launching an in-depth probe to assess whether a purchasing and store-swap alliance between French supermarket retailers Auchan and Super U owner Systeme U threatened competition rules, Reuters reports. A preliminary examination has shown the deal could have an impact on food and consumer goods supply and distribution markets, a statement from the authority said on Tuesday. The deal between France's fifth and sixth largest retailers mainly involves cooperation on purchasing, which means they will benefit from greater power in negotiating with suppliers, but also includes an arrangement under which they swap stores to optimize efficiency. (Reuters)

Strike action is set to take place at approximately 70 Tesco Ireland stores today, after what has been described as a 'breakdown in talks' between trade union Mandate and the retailer. The strike action follows discussions between the two parties over changes in the working conditions of around 300 longstanding employees (out of Tesco's 14,500 workforce in Ireland). (esmmagazine.com)

Monday 30th May will see the launch of the UK's first ever cauliflower and mushroom BBQ steaks. The launch, by Tesco, comes at a time when demand for vegetarian food is on the rise. In the last year the supermarket has seen sales for chilled vegetarian ready meals soar by nearly 20%. 

Italian regional retailer Conad Adriatico is investing €32m by the end of 2017 for expansion, promotional activities and supporting local production. As part of its 2015-2017 strategic plan, Conad Adriatico will open 63 new stores across the Italian regions of Marche, Abruzzo, Molise, Puglia, Basilicata, as well as two fuel distributors. In 2016 alone, 17 new supermarkets will be opened. Conad Adriatico recorded a 4% annual growth of turnover to €962.8m in 2015, while net profit amounted to €4.7m. (esmmagazine.com) 

Local Farmer Award partners, the Harold Grinspoon Charitable Foundation and Big Y awarded 47 local farmers from the Berkshires to the Pioneer Valley $2,500 each to make physical infrastructure improvements to their farms. (masslive.com)