Albertsons

PLEASANTON, Calif. — Safeway on Friday said that the leader of its Vons division will retire after serving in the role for more than 10 years.

Tom Keller will retire from his post as president of Vons, a position he has held since 1999, on Feb. 1. An industry veteran that started his career as a food clerk in Safeway's Phoenix division more than 40 years ago, Keller "leaves an important imprint on the organization as an energetic and innovative leader," Safeway chairman, president and CEO Steve Burd said.

PLEASANTON, Calif. — Safeway on Thursday announced the sale of 16 of its Genuardi's stores in the greater Philadelphia area to Giant Food Stores, a division of Ahold USA. Safeway will continue to operate these stores until the transaction closes, and the company is working through an orderly transition for all of these stores.

In addition, Safeway plans to close three Genuardi's stores and sell the remaining eight Genuardi's stores, which it will continue to operate while it is working with potential buyers.

PLEASANTON, Calif. — Safeway, in a release issued Wednesday, thanked its customers and employees for their generosity for donating food and toys to a number of Safeway Foundation charities this holiday season.

PLEASANTON, Calif. — Safeway on Tuesday named Al Duran to the role of president of the company's Denver division. He replaces Scott Grimmett, who is leaving Safeway for an opportunity with a noncompeting food retailer, the company stated.

"Al's results-oriented leadership style and experience on both the retail and the marketing side of our business will serve him well in his new assignment," Safeway chairman, president and CEO Steve Burd said. "He is also a Colorado native and knows that market well."

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. — Medical Alarm Concepts Holding on Monday unveiled plans for the second phase of its MediPendant medical alert system marketing campaign: a bag stuffer/coupon offer placed alongside patient prescriptions in Albertsons that includes one free month of monitoring services and a lockbox device that allows for first responders to get into a home without having to break down the door.

MINNEAPOLIS — Supervalu on Monday issued a clarification that its Albertsons banners are not removing any self-checkout lanes from their stores.

Confusion was created out of an announcement at the top of July that Albertsons LLC, a separate entity that owns and operates 217 stores in Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, New Mexico, Texas and Utah, decided to remove self-checkout lanes from its stores.

BOISE, Idaho — Albertsons is pulling the plug on its self-checkout units, which will be replaced by standard "H" lanes or express lanes, the grocer has confirmed.

The 217-store grocer that operates in Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, New Mexico, Texas and Utah has self-checkout units installed in roughly 100 of its stores. Those units will be removed by the end of the summer.

According to the grocer, the self-checkout units prevent it from providing the level of customer service it wants to offer its shoppers.

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — As part of its commitment to greener operations, Supervalu announced plans to transition 40 Albertsons banner stores to zero-waste operations before the end of the fiscal year on Feb. 29, 2012.

Last November, two Albertsons stores achieved zero-waste classification, which was highlighted in Supervalu's corporate responsibility report that was released Wednesday.

Zero-waste classification is achieved when stores divert at least 90% of all waste from landfills, Supervalu said.