Table of Contents
BOSTON — Ahold USA Inc. unveiled its first store under the bfresh banner in this city’s Allston neighborhood. The urban-scale store (10,000 square feet) opened its doors September 4 and had a "grand opening" scheduled for September 18.
Ahold USA Inc. unveiled its first store under the bfresh banner in this city’s Allston neighborhood. The urban-scale store (10,000 square feet) opened its doors September 4 and had a "grand opening" scheduled for September 18.
As the name implies, the bfresh store emphasizes fresh produce, natural and organic offerings, and freshly prepared items such as sandwiches, sushi and salads.
The store, on Harvard Avenue, is being operated by Fresh Formats LLC, the subsidiary that Quincy, Mass.-based Ahold USA launched last year.
The subsidiary opened its first urban-format store, under the Everything Fresh banner, in Philadelphia in April.
As they did at the opening of the 3,000-square-foot Everything Fresh store, Fresh Formats officials characterized the bfresh concept as an experiment that will help them figure out the best way to bring healthy food to busy consumers who want to shop locally for food that is fresh, healthy and affordable.
A second bfresh store is expected to open by year’s end, in Fairfield, Conn.
Ahold USA, which owns the Stop & Shop and Giant grocery store chains, is the U.S. subsidiary of Ahold Delhaize, the supermarket operator that is to be created by the proposed merger of Delhaize Group and Koninklijke Ahold N.V.
The marriage would produce the fourth-largest food retailer in the United States by market share, behind Walmart, Kroger Co. and Albertsons Cos.
The merger is subject to shareholder and regulatory approval and is expected to close in mid-2016. The boards of both companies have unanimously recommended that shareholders support the deal. The companies announced they were in preliminary talks to merge in May.
Although the partners are based in Europe, each gets more than 60% of its revenues from operations in the United States.
The merger will bring together Delhaize America’s Food Lion and Hannaford supermarket chains with Ahold USA’s Stop & Shop, Giant Food, Giant Food Stores and Martin’s Food Markets grocery chains, as well as its Peapod online grocery sales and ground delivery service.
Overall in the United States, the combined company would have 2,063 stores and annual sales of about $37 billion.
Ahold and Delhaize executives said a merger would allow them to lower operating and purchasing costs in the United States to better compete with Walmart and to expand the reach of Peapod to help the service fend off encroachment by Amazon.com and other rivals.
