Healthy lunchbox ideas from SPAR Belgium partner
As the new school year begins, SPAR brand partner in Belgium, Lambrechts, is helping families tackle busy mornings providing inspiration for healthy and easy-to-pack lunchboxes. From colourful wraps and veggie-packed sandwiches, to fun-shaped snacks, SPAR Belgium offers a variety of recipes that are perfect for children. These ideas are designed to be quick, nutritious, and appealing.
Source: spar-international.com
Poland: Eurocash reports improvement in Q2 performance amid difficult market conditions
Polish food retailer Eurocash has reported an improvement in its performance in the second quarter of its financial year, as its revenue decline narrowed and its project segment generated positive EBITDA for the first time. Revenue for the second quarter declined by 1.2%, year on year, to PLN 7.9bln (€1.9bln) - down from a 3.5% decline in the same period last year.
Source: esmmagazine.com
Aldi Shop & Go stores go hybrid as retailer places customer choice at forefront of checkout-free push
Aldi is making changes to its Shop & Go checkout-free stores, moving from a tap in to a hybrid experience. In a LinkedIn post, Lennart Hoffmann, Lead Engineer Seamless Stores at Aldi DX, said: "Since opening our first checkout-free Shop & Go store in London in 2022, we have continuously evolved the customer experience to make shopping faster, easier, and more convenient. After introducing tap in during December 2023, we are excited to announce the next big step in our journey: Shop & Go is going hybrid".
Source: retailtechinnovationhub.com
UK: Ocado Retail expands operations and invests in new property to meet demand
Ocado Retail reported: "Ocado Retail has announced the opening of a new regional distribution spoke in Nottingham, demonstrating the company's continued growth and commitment to meeting increasing consumer demand. The new facilities will further improve customer service and make Ocado's operations more efficient whilst enabling further capacity to support its growth ambitions".
Source: ocadoretail.com
Independent retailers dominate French grocery market: Worldpanel
Independent retailers dominated the French grocery market, gaining market share during the latest four weeks to 10 August, according to the latest data from Worldpanel by Numerator. Cooperative U gained 0.4 points of market share value, driven by the addition of around 186,000 new customers, a strong store and digital momentum, and partial impact from acquired or converted stores.
Source: esmmagazine.com
Spain: Consum opens 25 new charter stores in H1
Spanish cooperative retailer Consum has opened 25 new stores under its Charter banner in the first half of 2025, achieving 71% of its 35-store target for the year. Most of these openings - 21 in total - are in Catalonia and the Valencian Community.
Source: esmmagazine.com
S Group from Finland joins EMD's Retail Group from 2026
European Marketing Distribution (EMD) reported: "S Group will join EMD's Retail Group which implements cross-border services and marketing concepts in partnership with leading multinational A-brand manufacturers. In the Retail Group, S Group will collaborate with selected prominent and successful retail companies in their respective home countries, including the Euromadi Alfa Group from Spain, ESD Italia, Superunie from the Netherlands, Axfood from Sweden, Dagrofa from Denmark, RTG International from Germany and Unitas, the new constituted group of leading Polish retailers".
Source: emd-ag.com
Belgium: Colruyt places wheel lock on shopping trolleys after wave of thefts
Belgian supermarket chain Colruyt is increasingly equipping its stores with shopping trolleys that have a bright orange wheel lock. The system locks as soon as a customer leaves the store's car park, to prevent theft.
Source: retaildetail.eu
Greens launches 24-hour new concept store in Edinburgh
Greens Retail, the independent Scottish convenience group, is to open the first of a new type of store in Edinburgh next week. Greens on the Go is the concept which the group says marks "a shift from traditional convenience" to almost entirely "food for now" and "food for later". The Greens on the Go store opens on Tuesday (2 September) on Morrison St in the Scottish capital, with further locations planned in the months ahead.
Source: talkingretail.com
Aldi's workers in UK get second pay rise in two months
The British arm of German discount supermarket Aldi has edged up its pay for over 28,000 hourly paid workers for the second time in two months, leapfrogging an increase by rival Lidl GB.
Source: reuters.com
UK: Asda Q2 2025 trading update
Asda reported: "Asda updated on Q2 trading for the period ending 30th June and reported that its continued investment to lower prices for customers strengthened volumes and like-for-like sales during the quarter. The supermarket's total revenue for Q2 (excluding fuel) decreased by 0.2% year-on-year to £5.3bln. On a like-for-like basis, sales declined by 0.2%, representing a 2.9% step on from Q1 and the fourth consecutive quarter of improving like-for-like sales. Project Future, the IT transformation programme to separate more than 2,500 systems from former owner Walmart is now complete, with all stores, food depots and home office systems operating on Asda-owned technology".
Source: corporate.asda.com
Walmart of Mexico and Central America announce USD $260mln investment in El Salvador
Walmart of Mexico and Central America held a groundbreaking ceremony at the future site of Walmart Santa Tecla, marking the start of the company's ambitious plan to accelerate growth in El Salvador, investing more than USD $260mln over the next five years.
Source: corporate.walmart.com
US: Instacart teams with MDI to serve up e-commerce solutions for independent grocers
Instacart has announced a new partnership with Merchants Distributors (MDI), a wholesale grocery distributor, to offer the former's e-commerce solutions to the latter's network of independent grocers. These will be joining the Instacart app to offer customers same-day delivery and enabling Storefront Pro, the firm's end-to-end fully-customisable e-commerce solution built specifically for grocers.
Source: retailtechinnovationhub.com
US: Dollar General again exceeds expectations in Q2
As a follow-up to its commendable first quarter, Dollar General Corp. is sharing Q2 results that have again exceeded expectations. For the quarter ending August 1, the extreme value retailer saw net sales increase 5.1% year-over-year to $10.7bln and operating profit increased 8.3% to $595.4mln.
Source: progressivegrocer.com
Dollar Tree becomes the latest dollar store to sign up with Uber Eats
Dollar Tree is keeping pace with its top competitors, Dollar General and Family Dollar, by announcing that 9,000 of its stores will now operate through the Uber Eats platform.
Source: supermarketnews.com
US: Midwest grocer Harding's announces 4-store acquisition
Grocery Dive reported: "Midwestern grocery chain Harding's Friendly Markets announced it acquired four Village Market locations in Michigan. The locations will be rebranded and operated under the Harding's banner, according to an emailed press release. The storefronts span four different Michigan towns - Allegan, Colon, Decatur and Gobles - adding to Harding's already well-established presence of approximately 30 stores in the state".
Source: grocerydive.com