MOM's Organic Market opens 19th store

MOM's Organic Market opened its 19th location earlier this month in Gaithersburg, MD.  The 16,000 square foot store follows recent openings in White Marsh, MD, Cherry Hill, NJ, Baltimore, MD and Philadelphia, PA.

According to Founder and CEO Scott Nash, the company doesn't have openings scheduled for the next 12 to 18 months, but will "put the pedal to the metal again in a couple years."

The company's Gaithersburg location features the retailers first in-store bakery, which Nash says is a test. It also includes an outlet of the chain's Naked Lunch eatery, which offers all-organic, vegetarian prepared items.

Gaitheresburg also includes many of the services that MOM's is known for, including free car-charging stations; a recycling center for corks, eyeglasses, cell phones, household batteries, shoes and plastic bags; a green roof that increases energy efficiency; rain gardens; and pollinator-friendly plants that help filter out pollutants in storm water runoff.

ShopRite, Weis, Grocery Outlet add stores

It was announced last month that Village Super Market, a Wakefern member that operates 29 ShopRite supermarkets, signed a lease for a 90,000 square foot store that will anchor a new mixed-use development in Old Bridge, NJ. The store is slated to open next summer. Plans for the development include 2,000 residential units and more than 500,000 square feet of retail space.

Weis announced last month that it plans to purchase five Mars stores in Baltimore County, Maryland. When the purchase is complete (in late July, according to the announcement), Weis will have nine stores in the county. Mars currently operates 13 stores, including the five stores to be closed. The company closed four stores earlier this year.

Grocery Outlet, the California-based chain that purchased Amelia's in 2012, celebrated its 50th Pennsylvania store with its opening last month in Quakertown's Trainer's Corner Shopping Center. Sears Hardware had previously occupied the building. A Grocery Outlet employee said the company plans more stores, with an expansion goal of 80 throughout New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia.
  

Bozzuto's deal with Baltimore supermarket may lead to more Mid-Atlantic distribution

Bozzuto's officials believe their new relationship with Baltimore-based retailer Mars Super Markets can help the distributor expand in the Mid-Atlantic states, according to a story last week in Supermarket News.  Mars operates 17 stores in the Baltimore area, and the new deal may allow Bozzuto's to compete more directly with the Associated Wholesalers Inc. (AWI) cooperative.

According to Burt P. Flickinger III, managing director of Strategic Resource Group, "The Mars business makes Bozzuto's a leading candidate for privately-held and family-run chains. That will be a challenge for White Rose and AWI."

A&P Seeks to Sell 25 Super Fresh Stores in MD, DE and DC

The Supermarket News story below reports that A&P will sell 25 Super Fresh stores in the next two months. The bulk of the stores (22 of the 25) are in Maryland, primarily in the Baltimore market, while two are in Washington D.C. and one is in Delaware.

According to the story, A&P said Super Fresh stores on the Maryland and Delaware shores would stay with the company, as would its Super Fresh stores in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

A&P Seeks to Sell 25 SuperFresh Stores