Retail & FoodService

According to interviews with store workers. In the past five years, the world’s largest retailer added 455 U.S. Wal-Mart stores, a 13 percent increase, according to filings and the company’s website. In the same period, its total U.S. workforce, which includes Sam’s Club employees, dropped by about 20,000, or 1.4 percent. Wal-Mart employs about 1.4 million U.S. workers. …

SUPERVALU Inc. announced plans to reduce its national workforce by an estimated 1,100 positions. The final working dates for impacted employees vary, based on the needs of the business and the areas they support. The reductions include both current positions and open jobs that will not be filled. …

Wal-Mart Stores Inc is ramping up plans to combine its physical stores with online technology, testing the use of lockers to hold goods ordered on the Internet until shoppers pick them up, as the world's largest retailer tries to catch up with e-commerce leader Amazon.com Inc. …

Discount grocer ALDI USA ranked fifth on a list of the top 20 companies with the most loyal fans. No other grocery retailer was included on the list, which tracks every major brand on Facebook and how likely those brands' fans are to recommend them to friends or colleagues. The survey was conducted by LoudDoor, a Facebook insights Preferred Marketing Developer. Other companies ranked in the top five include Google, Facebook and Walt Disney World . …

In recognition for its exceptional commitment to offering Ontario-grown foods, Longo Brothers Fruit Markets Inc. was presented with a Vision Award at the annual Foodland Ontario Retailer Awards held at the Liberty Grand in Toronto on Friday, March 22nd. …