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March, 2016 Volume 13, Issue 03

Whole Foods Market Reports $4.8 Billion First Quarter Sales Inside this issue: Whole Foods Market reported results above analysts’ expectations for their first quarter ending Southwest 1 January 17th, 2016. Most notably, their total sales increased 3% to a record $4.8 billion. The company’s adjusted earnings came in at $0.46 per share, $0.06 above analysts’ estimates. Walter West 3 Robb, co-CEO of Whole Foods Market, said he was pleased the improvements the company showed Midwest 6 last quarter – owing the progress to the nine-point plan outlined last November. Rocky Mountains 10 “We improved our cost structure, stepped up our value efforts, and are excited to announce today East 12 the national launch of digital coupons within our mobile app. We believe we will deliver strong returns to shareholders over the long term as we improve our price perception, better communicate Northwest 13 our higher quality standards and differentiation, and continue to fundamentally evolve our business.” Distributor News 15

Alternatively, same store sales fell by 1.8% and Whole Foods Market doesn’t expect it to recover Data Update 17 over the next year, with projections of -2% to 0% growth. The lack of same store growth is likely due GMO News 19 to rising competition in the organic sector from conventional retailers like Kroger and Walmart. Over Expo West 20 the next year, Whole Foods Market will continue to utilize its new marketing campaign to differentiate its products and improve price perception. Milestones 20 Help Wanted 21 Errol Schweizer Leaves Whole Foods Market

On February 29th, Whole Foods Global Grocery Coordinator, Errol Schweizer, announced that he would be leaving Whole Foods Market. In a written statement, Errol shared the following:

“After 14 years, I have made the tough decision to move on from Whole Foods Market. I am grateful for the friends and allies I made along the way, especially my grocery team in Austin and the many suppliers whom I had the privilege of working with for the past decade. I am proud of the ongoing contributions to our food system made by our supplier base, especially our collaborative Special points of interest: efforts in non-GMO sourcing, ethical trading, Halal foods, organic supply chain, pollinator preservation, hemp legalization and the continued churn of new item innovation that is a hallmark of  365 Announces Five New Locations – the industry. These are exciting times and I wish my teammates at Whole Foods Market all the best.” Page 2  365 Wants to Go “Radical” – Page 2 Presence Marketing/Dynamic Presence wishes Errol the best as well and we hope to work with him again. Information as it relates to Errol’s successor is not available at this time. Please contact  Sprouts California Dreamin’ – Page 4 Presence Marketing/Dynamic Presence’s Milton Zimmerman at [email protected], Lorraine  Fresh Thyme Opens Stores in Indiana Kayser at [email protected] or Rob Browning at [email protected] with any questions. and Nebraska – Page 7 Whole Foods Market Launches Mobile Coupon App  Lucky’s Market Loves Lexington – Page 7  Kroger Named Third Largest Retailer – In November, Whole Foods Market outlined a number of steps to emphasize value and improve Page 8 returns, including a plan to invest in digital marketing initiatives. Last month, the company launched its first digital coupon program to registered users of its mobile application for iPhone  INFRA Looks to the Future – Page 8 or Android. Making the process easy for the customer was important to the development team. In  Sprouts Looks at Second Quarter contrast to coupon apps from competing chains that require shoppers to pre-select coupons, the Openings – Page 11 Whole Foods Market app generates a single barcode that can be scanned at the register and all available coupons will automatically apply to the basket.  Publix Headed to Virginia – Page 12

Whole Foods Market says a coupon program was the most requested feature from users of the  Wegmans Headed to North Carolina – app, which previously included recipes and shopping list functions. The first round of digital Page 12 coupons included $5 off a $15 purchase of fresh fruits and vegetables, $5 off one-dozen Whole  Haddon House Acquired by United Trade Guarantee Roses and other brand-specific discounts, most offering over a dollar in savings. Natural Foods – Page 15 “Over the coming months, we will continue to evolve, expand and  Top Growth Categories in Natural optimize the digital coupon offering to bring our customers more of Channel – Page 17 what they love with great savings at their fingertips," Whole Foods GMO Labeling Panel Hits Fever Pitch – Market said in a statement. Part of that evolution may be more  targeted marketing efforts and tailoring coupons to individual Page 19 customers’ shopping habits. AC Gallo, President and Chief Operating  “The Hawk” Soars – Page 20 Officer for Whole Foods Market said the coupon program is only the start of the company’s initiative to emphasize value for its customers. Additional programs and events will be announced throughout the year.

© 2016 Presence Marketing, Inc. 1 365 by Whole Foods Market Announces Five New Locations Whole Foods Market revealed the next five locations in the works for its “365 by Whole Foods Market” value-based concept, for a total of 13 leases signed so far. The new stores will be located in Gainesville, Florida; Concord, California; Los Alamitos, California; Claremont, California; and Evergreen Park, Illinois. These spots were chosen due to a “high demand for both quality food and value in a convenient format,” according to Jeff Turnas, President of 365 by Whole Foods Market. Markets with the highest demand will typically include a large millennial demographic and high growth projections. The five new leases follow previously announced locations in Bellevue, Washington; Cedar Park, Texas; Cincinnati, Ohio; Houston, Texas; Portland, Oregon; and three California locations in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Santa Monica.

Turnas is proud of the team working to bring the new stores to market in the next couple of months. “We have assembled an amazing team of people who have been working tirelessly to create an innovative shopping experience that will appeal to new and existing Whole Foods Market customers,” said Turnas. Jeff and his team are eagerly awaiting the grand opening of the first 365 by Whole Foods Market this May in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles. Stores in Lake Oswego, Oregon, and Bellevue, Washington, are scheduled to open this summer. The company expects to open 10 stores before October 2017.

365 by Whole Foods Market Seeks New Partnerships with Specialty Shops “We can go radical on 365 stores.” John Whole Foods Market announced it is looking for third-party vendors to operate specialty shops inside Mackey, Co-CEO, 365 by Whole Foods Market stores. The new chain’s website, called “Friends of 365,” announced that Whole Foods Market the company is in search of local, established entrepreneurs of unique, non-food retail products, including body care products, housewares, clothing, shoes, pet products and more. The retailer is also seeking out innovative partners that can provide “cool street services” to attract millennial shoppers into the new stores. Those integrated shops could include everything from barber shops and knife sharpening to bike shops and fitness amenities. Part of that appeal to millennials could even be an integrated tattoo parlor or record store at some of the locations. “We can go radical on 365 stores,” Co-CEO John Mackey told Wall Street analysts on a recent conference call. “Whole Foods Market is undergoing a very fundamental transformation. Some of it is beginning to show up, but we’ll see more of it in the next few quarters.”

Walter Robb Predicts a Change in How Americans Eat

In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Whole Foods Market co-CEO Walter Robb said he anticipates a sharp increase in the number of prepared foods targeting non- cooks. “You’re going to see an explosion in food service and prepared foods and beverages, an explosion of choices for those who don’t want to cook,” Robb stated. “And they’ll be able to get it on-demand. Ultimately [customers] are looking to the food store not just for food that they can cook, but for food they can eat right now.” Robb has repeatedly spoken about a revolution in the future of supermarkets that centers on innovative store concepts, the advancement of digital technology and the need for constant evolution. Robb said in the past a supermarket was refreshed every five years, because that’s how long trends lasted, but now, he says, it’s a different game. For example, the prepared foods section of Whole Foods Market is refreshed every three months because cutting-edge ideas are happening so quickly. In addition to the expansion of the prepared foods department, he expects retailers to start building smaller stores and to offer more proteins and produce instead of packaged products, to help meet the exploding demand for fresh foods.

Sprouts Farmers Market Opens New El Paso Location

Sprouts Farmers Market opened its second Rio Grande Valley location in El Paso, Texas in early February. The new 28,000 square foot store is located at 2036 N. Zaragoza Road on the Eastside of the city. The only other location, located on the Westside, was a holdover from when Sprouts purchased Sun Harvest Market. Until recently, it remained the only major natural food market in the city and has been extremely popular. Sprouts Farmers Market will soon face competition from Whole Foods Market, which began construction on its first El Paso store last year. The new 50,000 square foot, dual-level store is slated to open in late 2016.

H-E-B Eliminates Longtime Food Desert in Hutto

The city of Hutto, Texas has over 20,000 residents, but not a single grocery store within city limits. In February, the city council approved a proposal from H-E-B to build a new 120,000 square foot location on a 36-acre development called Star Ranch Master Plan, owned by the city of Hutto, H-E-B and a development company. Prior to the approval of this deal with H-E-B, Hutto residents had to make the 25 minute journey to the H-E-B in Round Rock for groceries. Hutto Mayor Debbie Holland said that she’s pleased her city will finally deliver on the "number one requested amenity from our residents." The city will develop new transportation lines and traffic signals to accommodate the increased traffic at SH 130 and Gattis School Road. Construction on the site begins this month and will include several other retail shops and a new fuel station.

United Supermarkets and Market Street banners are following the same demo program as parent company Albertsons/Safeway. The company has aligned with Advantage Marketing Partners as the new national event management company. Starting February 15th, 2016, AB Acquisition LLC ("Albertsons Companies") in-store demo platform will be branded as "Favorite Finds from your Favorite Local Supermarket". This will be placed on the beacon sign of each of the new fully equipped carts. The look and feel aligns to Albertsons Companies NextGen fascia creating a cohesive in-store shopping experience.” Demo program details and pricing is listed below. To schedule an event or learn more about the program, please call 844-344- 1625 or email [email protected].

Demo Event Solutions Including:

• Dedicated on-site program management • Dedicated field management • Optimized insight-driven store list • Food safety-trained Event Specialists • In-store theater via custom carts • Incremental merchandising space • Custom side-of-cart signage opportunities • Standard appliances per cart • Reporting (sales lift and execution) • 6 hour or 4 hour events • Event kit supplies fulfilled and shipped to each store For more information contact Presence Marketing’s Bill Wilson at [email protected], Dynamic Presence’s Peggy Simms-Watley at psimms- [email protected] or Presence Marketing NBC’s Kat Eastham at [email protected]. McAllen Sprouts Announced

Sprouts Farmers Market has plans for a second store in McAllen (at the southern tip of Texas). This McAllen store is located near North 10th Street and West Dove Avenue. The store is expected to open in July of this year.

Brea Welcomes Its First Whole Foods Market West

North Orange County, California, welcomed its first Whole Foods Market on February 17th. At 38,000 square feet, the new store is part of a recently constructed 87,000 square foot retail center known as The Village at La Floresta, located at the corner of Imperial Highway and Valencia Avenue in Brea. The 8.58-acre property was purchased by Regency Centers, and serves as a central point to the surrounding community of high-end, multifamily town homes, single-family homes and luxury senior living. At the 10:00 A.M. groundbreaking ceremony, guest speakers included representatives from Regency Centers, the city of Brea and Whole Foods Market.

“We want[ed] to create a place that allows people to relax, interact and, most importantly, find the high-quality food, goods and services that meet their needs. With areas for gathering, community events and walking paths, we hope the community comes to see Shops at La Floresta as an extension of their own homes,” said John T. Mehigan, VP of Investments for Regency Centers in Southern California.

Features of the store include a cold-pressed juice bar; Ramen station with mazemen – a dry, or soup-less, ramen topped with options like spicy albacore, salmon or fresh vegetables; Mochi station; fresh poke; self-serve pizza station; expanded vegan options in all departments; a coffee bar with local Bodhi Leaf cold brew on tap; and bar-restaurant with local brews, seasonal menu, and more than 120 indoor and outdoor seats.

“This is the nicest Whole Foods Market I've seen in OC. It somewhat reminds me of some of the nicer stores back east. This is the kind of store that made me originally fall in love with Whole Foods Market. The design is beautiful and hip… The Tustin location is closer to where I live, but this store is so much nicer. I will probably make the trek to Brea once a week,” said a satisfied customer.

© 2016 Presence Marketing, Inc. 3 Sprouts Opens New Location in Oakland On January 13th, Sprouts Farmers Market opened a 26,000 square foot location at the intersection of 30th Street and Broadway, marking the chain’s 14th location in the Bay Area. Although “The Bay” is home to one of the densest concentrations of natural food stores in the country, the Oakland area is one of the lesser saturated markets. The section of Broadway Street where the new Sprouts store is located, known as “Auto Row,” has been long neglected. Many of the area’s car dealerships have shut down, leaving large blocks of space vacant. The city’s vision is to encourage pedestrian activity on the street, and there is a promise for housing, offices, and more retail to follow.

The new store caters to the Oakland Hills and Lakeshore neighborhoods, whose residents are known to have higher incomes relative to the rest of Oakland. It is also conveniently located close to both the Alta Bates and Kaiser Hospital buildings. The store’s main competition is Whole Foods Market in the Lake Merritt area, which has enjoyed a dominant presence in the area when it comes to organic and natural food. However, according to a 2014 Bloomberg study, Sprouts’ prices averaged 13% less than Whole Foods Market, which may help to draw more Whole Foods Market regulars to Sprouts’ doors.

The new store features the first salad bar of the chain’s Bay Area stores, in addition to its full-service deli and meat department. Approximately 100 full and part-time employment opportunities were created as a result of the store’s opening.

Sprouts Clovis Opens Its Doors

Sprouts opened its first Clovis location on February 17th. Located in the Clovis was ranked the #1 city in California to raise a family, by leading Trading Post Shopping Center at 850 Herndon Avenue, the store is money blog NerdWallet.com. Its high rating was due to its school 28,000 square feet in size, and occupies a space previously used by ratings, home values, home ownership costs, household income, and Save Mart. Other recent arrivals to the shopping center are a Ross income growth. These figures likely bode well for the potential success Dress for Less, Skechers, and Pieology Pizzeria. The shopping center has of this new Sprouts location. An area with strong family values likely also been revamped with landscaping improvements, general cleanup, recognizes the importance of the quality of food served at home. and site furniture, with the aim of improving walkability and enhancing the consumer shopping experience.

Sprouts is a welcome addition to the area, which up until now, has been limited in its natural food store offerings. Although the conventional grocery stores in the area provide an ample supply of organic produce, residents who seek a wider selection of organic products have relied on Trader Joe’s to fill this need.

“Finally a Sprouts in Clovis!” said Tashara H, one of Sprouts Clovis’ first customers. “This store is set up as a mirror image to the Fresno location...The produce section is vast and well stocked. The frozen foods area has tons of healthy options…I am excited for this new shopping option and am impressed with how everything flowed so quickly.”

Sprouts Coming to San Jose

Sprouts Farmers Market will anchor a new retail center being built in San Jose, California. The 30,000 square foot store will be located the corner of Brokaw and Oakland roads on the north side of town in the 145,000 square foot Brokaw Plaza. A Ross will also anchor the plaza. San Jose’s north side is seeing significant growth as tech companies such as Apple, Samsung and Google set up shop there.

Sprouts Opens in West Hollywood

Sprouts Farmers Market opened the doors of their new West Hollywood, California location on Wednesday, February 10th, with $1 deals throughout the store, free tastings and giveaways. The first 200 shoppers received 20% off their entire purchase while every 15th shopper was gifted a special coupon booklet. The store is part of a mixed use development on the corner of LaBrea and Willoughby avenues, home to a 179-unit apartment complex above 35,000 square feet of ground floor retail space.

This particular corner of the neighborhood has been the center of controversy and illegal activity in the past, so Peter Nichols, founder of the Melrose Action Neighborhood Watch, is “thrilled” a Sprouts Farmers Market is coming to the area, adding it is greatly needed.

“There isn’t enough competition in upscale lifestyle-oriented markets around here. Whole Foods Market has a lock on it in this area, otherwise we just have a couple of Ralphs [grocery stores]. I think it’s better for our neighborhood and hope it will result in better prices,” Nichols said.

Baron’s Market opened its sixth store on Wednesday, January 27th, in Murrieta, California. This is the third store for Baron’s in the Inland Empire with Wildomar and Temecula close by. Rachel Shemirani is the Vice President of Marketing and daughter of Baron’s Market founder, Joe Shemirani. She addressed the new store stating, “As a family-owned market with good food at good prices, Barons Market’s community-centered approach naturally fits with the tight-knit neighborhood of Murrieta.” She went on to say, “This community has a unique culture that requires a special type of grocery store – one that not only opens a location in the neighborhood but integrates into the core of what makes it special.”

The 18,000 square foot store takes the place of the old Ralph’s location. Baron’s new store is half the square footage of its old tenants, but is fully equipped with all the bells and whistles, including a hot soup bar, gluten-free island, balsamic and olive oil bar, and even an orange juice bar that uses locally sourced oranges. Other key features of the new store will include:

• Terrific selection of organic, natural and specialty foods. • Collaboration with local farms to bring customers the best quality and freshest produce. • Products cost 25% to 30% less than traditional supermarkets. No gimmicks, no sales, and no club cards. Just everyday low prices. • Hot soup bar, fresh salad bar and antipasto bar. • The selection of over 500 gluten-free items is centralized in one location of the store so gluten sensitive customers can easily find them. • With over 400 microbrews, it stands as the go-to craft beer store in Southern California. • Through store design and product selection, Barons has created a ten-minute shopping experience for busy customers.

For its sixth location, Barons collaborated with Interior Designer Julie Dugas of Studio H2G in Michigan to transform concrete walls and fluorescent lights into a warm, modern space infused with character from the Murrieta community.

Despite there being no goodie-bags, free samples, or giveaways like other traditional grand openings, business has been vibrant from the start. “We didn’t feel we needed all of the fluff for this grand opening, and by not having giveaways we were able to keep customers who take advantage of those kinds of things away focusing on what we believe will be our returning customers.” Lastly, and what the Baron’s team wants people to know is that Barons “is not in the food business. We are in the people business…We are a neighborhood store.”

Gelson’s Market to Open in Hollywood

Gelson’s Markets recently announced its plans to build a ground-up store in Hollywood, California, scheduled to open early in 2018 – their second location in Hollywood. Currently, they’re in the midst of converting several former Haggen stores to its banner.

Based in Encino, California, the 19-store chain is experiencing major growth, enabled by its acquisition a year ago by the global private-investment firm TPG based in Fort Worth, Texas.

Gelson's has re-opened two of the eight former Haggen stores acquired late last year, a store in mid-January in Del Mar, its first San Diego store; and a store in Rancho Mirage on January 28th – its first store in the desert area of Coachella Valley. The chain is scheduled to open its second San Diego-area location in Carlsbad on February 18th, and its third, in Pacific Beach (near La Jolla) in the spring.

The company also plans to reopen four other converted Haggen locations in Southern California during 2016 – in Santa Monica, Thousand Oaks, Laguna Beach and Ladera Ranch (the last two located in Orange County).

Sacramento Co-op to Move to New Location

The Sacramento Foods co-op, located in a historical district east of downtown Sacramento, is locally owned and has been serving the community since 1973. With continued growth, the co- op has moved to several locations in the midtown area over the years. Now, they are planning their next exciting move for April, 2016. The new store will be in a space bordered by 28th and 29th streets on the west and east, and R and S streets on the north and south. The square footage will expand from 12,000 to 16,000 square feet, with the deli department experiencing the most dramatic growth. A burrito bar, pizza bar, and sandwich bar will be a few of the new features added. Parking will be increased from 54 spots to 180 spots. The opening date would take place around the same time construction is expected to start on a new Whole Foods Market in midtown Sacramento. The relocation is expected to cost $9.5million.

As always the Sacramento Foods Co-op’s goal is to provide the benefits of natural foods and products, economic cooperation, and sustainable practices to as many people as possible in the communities they serve.

Healthy Options, the largest natural and organic products retailer in the Philippines, recently celebrated their 20 year anniversary with a gala event on January 4th. Founded with a single store in October of 1995, Healthy Options now has 26 locations in five provinces with over 300 associates. Each store is managed by either a certified pharmacist or nutritionist. In “Kidzania” young shoppers can role play as cashiers, stockers and shoppers. In addition, they have a retail format focused on natural pet called Bow & Wow, which are all managed by veterinarians. Arlette Ochart of the UNFI International sales team participated in the anniversary event which was attended by all associates in celebration of the chain’s growth success.

Fresh Thyme Opens a Store for “Golden Domers” Midwest

On February 11th, 2016, Fresh Thyme Farmers Market opened its eighth Thirty-one freezer doors featuring natural and organic items including Indiana store in Mishawaka, a principal city of South Bend, Indiana, fruit and vegetables, meat alternatives, entrees, pizza, breakfast, near Notre Dame University. bread, ice cream and other products run perpendicular to the grocery department, which conveniently allow customers to easily shop across Mishawaka’s population is estimated at 48,000 and legend holds that departments. the city is named after Mishawaka, daughter of Shawnee Chief Elkhart. Extreme cold didn’t stop what turned out to be a great turnout the day The perishable-dairy area boasts 41 refrigerated doors throughout the of the grand opening. There was a ribbon cutting ceremony, Mishawaka store featuring organic, natural as well as a few conventional items. Mayor Dave Wood said a few words and the Mishawaka High School Cold-pressed juices and fresh squeezed options are available. band played music. The first 250 customers received 20% off their Specialty ensures a large selection of cheese to complete the package. purchase and every 100th person received their groceries free of charge. Customers can acquire all their supplement and beauty needs here too, with over 7,000 supplements and body care items and educational Targeting conventional grocery store shoppers while providing them a materials as well. bridge toward natural and organic concepts, as well as appealing to the established natural grocery store shopper, Fresh Thyme continues to The Mishawaka store is another great and welcome addition to the duplicate a tried and true concept identical in design to other Fresh natural and organic marketplace in Northwest Indiana. Fresh Thyme Thyme stores in the Midwest. Farmers Market plans to continue to expand. A total of 20 stores are slated for the Midwest by the end of 2016. The new store has approximately 28,000 square feet of space and offer shoppers an incredible selection of fresh vegetables and fruit and food that are locally sourced whenever possible. The butcher shop and fish market have a wonderful selection of natural and hormone free options as well as grass-fed and free-range selections. Also integrated into the store is a full salad bar, hot bar and full service deli. Numerous cold-boxes situated throughout the store give customers great grab and go options.

The bulk department is another highlight featuring approximately 192 gravity bins, 80 scoop bins, numerous barrel bins and an aisle of pre- packed bulk items. A popular nut grinding station is also available.

With 384 linear feet of dry grocery aisle space and eight end caps, this Mishawaka store has a fabulous center-store grocery area. Among the many nutritious choices is a large selection of gluten-free and dairy- free products. Many ethnic and world cuisine offerings can be found in the aisles as well.

Fresh Thyme Opens First Location in Nebraska

Fresh Thyme Farmers Market held a grand opening on February 10th for their Lincoln, Nebraska store. For the grand opening, Fresh Thyme offered the first 250 shoppers 20% off of their purchase and also every 100th shopper received their groceries for free. There was also ribbon cutting and to kick off the opening music was played by the Northeast High School Marching Band.

The new store, which is a 30,000 square foot store, is located at 5220 O Street in Lincoln. The area of the store is not without its share of competition as Fresh Thyme opened right next door to Hy-Vee and within a half-mile radius there is also a Whole Foods Market, Natural Grocers, Target, Super Saver, Russ’s Market, Shopko and Akin’s Natural Foods Market. Lincoln is also home to an NCG store, Open Harvest Co-op Grocery and a natural independent store, Red Clover Market.

This is Fresh Thyme’s 30th overall store and the first location in Nebraska. There are plans for at least two stores to open in Omaha, Nebraska, with the first location planned for this summer.

Lucky’s Market Lexington opened its doors to a warm and welcoming crowd on a snowy January 27th morning. Inside, shoppers were treated to local food samples, lots of clever signage, and a lively celebratory bacon cutting.

The very spacious 47,000 square foot facility includes 64 feet of dairy, 36 frozen doors, and a massive bulk department with over 300 bins. In “The Kitchen,” where the store’s prepared foods can be found, customers can expect to find in-house roasted and smoked deli meats and fresh sandwiches, along with vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options. Customers can “sip and stroll” while they shop with freshly made drinks from the juice and smoothie bar or an array of coffee drinks and beer from the café.

Lucky’s Market Lexington is located at 1030 S. Broadway, minutes away from the University of Kentucky (UK) campus and downtown Lexington. This is the 16th location for the Boulder, Colorado-based chain.

Natural Grocers Opens First Store in Iowa

Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage, opens its first Iowa location. The 14,000 square foot store is located in the parking lot of the former Dahl's grocery store at 86th Street and Hickman Road, in Clive, Iowa, a suburb of Des Moines.

This store also has a kitchen for free cooking demonstrations and educational seminars given by the stores certified nutritional coach. Customers who attend four seminars are given a $10 gift card.

Natural Grocers is joining a growing specialty grocery market in the Des Moines area. The Fresh Market opened in West Des Moines in October, and Fresh Thyme Farmers Market is expected to open there soon. They join Whole Foods Market, Gateway Market, Trader Joe's, Campbell's Nutrition, and a growing selection of natural and organic sections in traditional supermarkets like Hy-Vee and Fareway.

Natural Grocers Coming to St Joseph

Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage is getting underway on a location to replace a bowling alley in Saint Joseph, Missouri at 2414 North Belt Highway. The building will be remodeled into an 18,000 square foot store, with 8,000 square feet remaining for future retail use. Work is slated to start on January 27th, and the new store is scheduled to open on June 21st. The store will be part of a revitalization of the middle portion of the Belt. A Harbor Freight Tools recently opened nearby, and a Price Chopper is being built on the site of the former Plaza 8 Theater.

Whole Foods Market to Open Second Store in Milwaukee

On Wednesday, February 24th, Whole Foods Market opened its second location in the Milwaukee area. The eagerly anticipated 47,500 square foot store is located in the West suburb of Wauwatosa. The new location will accompany the existing store (located on the East side) in bringing awareness to living a healthy lifestyle while being environmentally conscious. With an estimated 120 employees, Whole Foods Market aspires to provide further economic opportunities and stability to the Wauwatosa community. The store will be one of the main anchors in the newly built Mayfair Collection shopping center. Additional upscale restaurants, bars, banks and a hotel will surround Whole Foods Market new location.

With the usual superior merchandising, the store offers consumers a wide array of natural and organic selections. Of the 47,500 square feet, 43,000 square feet will be dedicated to retail space. The store will contain 620 feet of dry grocery, 100 feet of natural and organic dairy selections as well as 177 feet of frozen foods. If a customer prefers bulk food, 70 feet of nuts, grains, candies and granola should satisfy their needs.

The new Wauwatosa store will provide the usual high standard food options with a full service deli, hot bar, coffee and juice bar. Fresh meats with an in-store butcher as-well-as a fully staffed seafood department will offer consumers the highest quality product available.

Holding true to Whole Foods Market standards, the organization will be highly visible and active in community events and environmental quality issues. The goal of the staff at the new Whole Foods Market in Wauwatosa is to provide the ultimate shopping experience for its customers. With the addition of the new location the community of Milwaukee is poised to enter a new and exciting period of education and growth in the natural food industry.

Kroger Named the World's Third Largest Retailer

Kroger is the world’s third-largest retailer behind Walmart and Costco, according to a new ranking by the National Retail Federation. The downtown Cincinnati-based supermarket chain’s 2014 acquisitions of North Carolina supermarket chain, Harris Teeter, and digital health goods provider, Vitacost.com, helped propel Kroger’s growth and lifted its ranking from number six in the world a year ago. Not reflected in the figures: Kroger’s takeover of Milwaukee-based Roundy’s Inc., which added $4 billion to the company’s $108 billion in total revenues. Kroger was also the largest retailer doing business in one country.

INFRA Looks to the Future

The Independent Natural Food Retailers Association celebrated its 10- year anniversary recently. While it took a bit longer to get off the ground INFRA will announce to vendor partners at Expo West the ability to than originally anticipated by the founders, the careful steps taken, along participate in regional deals when a national deal is not a good fit for with the tenacity and perseverance, has provided a solid foundation for a specific promotion, brand or new product introduction. This, alongside future growth and success. INFRA’s fast growing membership, successful national promotions and the Academy of Retail Training (ART) program provide vendor partners Currently, INFRA represents 220 retailers with over 330 storefronts extensive opportunities in 2016 through INFRA. representing $1.3 billion in annual sales. INFRA had over $46 million in INFRA Deals sales while simultaneously adding 40 new members in 2015. At the membership level to support our partnerships INFRA is moving forward with IX-One and Grocery Press to enhance its retailer’s ability The association launched a strategy of regional supply agreements with to deliver digital options to their consumers. primary distribution three years ago versus one national agreement. The purpose of regional supply agreements over one national supply For further information send inquires to [email protected]. agreement is to be positioned for supporting a future of success by enabling INFRA to facilitate local and regional promotions alongside You can also reach out to Presence Marketing’s Andy Logan at national promotions. INFRA’s focus is on warehouse opportunity versus one [email protected], Dynamic Presence’s Eric Shaw at distribution company’s opportunity. While it makes the internal work of [email protected] or Presence Marketings NBC’s Jeremy Niemann at INFRA a bit more complex there is no doubt in the team’s mind that this [email protected]. strategy is successful for INFRA member retailers, keeping them in a prominent position in the market place.

With the finalization of these regional supply agreements in 2015, INFRA is prepared to move forward with plans for regional promotions, group buys, and first to market opportunities. Group buys are a great way to illustrate the effectiveness of regional supply agreements. INFRA is able to concentrate a volume of activity in partnership with distribution through a single warehouse or select warehouses to ensure efficiencies for all involved.

Mrs. Greens Opens a Store on Chicago’s Northshore

Mrs. Green’s opened its newest Chicago Metropolitan area store at 925 Green Bay Road in the North Shore suburb of Winnetka, Illinois on January 27th. Seeking to feature an approach that features local items first and organic items second, this new store reflects a focus that is designed to be actively involved in the community they serve. Seeking to be true partners with their community Mrs. Green’s ventures with local farms and businesses to provide a diverse selection of locally produced items when possible. Locally sourced fish, meat and produce to name just a few. They have incorporated a “local” tag program to feature locally produced items-and there are many throughout the store.

Customer service is also of paramount importance to Mrs. Green’s and a core value of their stores mission statement to help separate themselves from their competition.

This new store has approximately 8,500 square feet of total retail space including 82 linear feet of center store grocery with six end caps, a 32 foot produce area surrounding several produce islands, 26 doors of frozen food, 48 linear feet of dairy space, and 40 linear feet for fresh bakery. The natural living area has 116 linear foot of aisle space. Deli and specialty foods feature a unique build-your-own salad station, a custom hot plate station, a sushi station and more. The cafeteria area has a juice and coffee bar-with all coffee locally sourced.

A separate beer and wine area, a bulk area with 36 gravity bins and 77 scoop bins, four linear feet of locally sourced bulk coffee, a bulk herb set and a nut butter station round out the store.

Roundy’s New Metro Market Flagship Store Opens in Shorewood

Roundy’s Supermarkets, Inc., now a division of Kroger, has just opened their fifth and largest Metro Market in the well-heeled suburb of Shorewood, Wisconsin. The Metro Market banner represents Roundy’s Mariano’s format in the Wisconsin Market and this 85,000 square foot store does not disappoint, hosting the dramatically featured homemade chocolates and gelato bar, an oyster bar, a wine and beer bar, in store grilling and barbecue plus many other special amenities to provide the Wisconsin customers with the Mariano’s shopping experience. Like the newer Mariano’s in the New City development on Chicago’s north side, this store has two levels of shopping and guest checkout lanes.

Also in the plans for 2016 are at least four more Mariano’s locations to open and 50 of the Wisconsin banner stores are targeted for re-fresh/re-set. With the new additional support from parent company Kroger, which acquired Roundy’s in December of 2015, it is anticipated that some of the Wisconsin stores in favorable markets such as Madison, Appleton and Green Bay may be upgraded to the Metro Market Banner. More recently, Kroger has begun to transition some of Roundy’s activities to their corporate format with all promotional activities now scheduled based upon the Kroger fiscal year calendar.

SUPERVALU Names New CEO

The Eden Prairie, Minnesota-based company, which owns Cub Foods, Hornbachers, Farm Fresh, Shop n’ Save and Shoppers, announced that Mark Gross will take over for the retiring Sam Duncan at the end of February.

Mark Gross has for the past decade led Surry Investments Advisors, which mainly focuses on consulting for the grocery industry, notably on mergers and acquisitions. Before that, Gross worked for 10 years with the New Hampshire based C&S as he was co-president of C&S for two years (2005-06), and prior to that he held the following positions with C&S. (General Counsel, CEO, and President of retail operations.)

“I am thrilled to join Supervalu,” Gross said. “I am delighted to have the opportunity to help take the company to the next level and to work with the board and management team to set the strategic path for the future. I look forward to working with our great customers and the talented group of employees in this company, including working with Eric Claus as Supervalu continues to explore and prepare for a potential spin-off of Save-A-Lot.”

Gross is joining SuperValu as it embarks in the potential spin-off of its discount chain Save-A-Lot as it’s working to improve the performance of its grocery distribution and retail store operations. SuperValu has filed the necessary paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission back in January that outlines the spin-off of Save-A-Lot into a separate public company which will allow the process of its sell off in the near future. SuperValu’s distribution centers servers 1,900 independent grocers across the country along with its five corporate banners.

Hy-Vee announced on January 15th, they would be moving all department items went to PDI as they already strongly serve those perishable business out of Lomar and relocating it all to Perishable departments. Refrigerated dressings and dips were shipped to Chariton Distributors of Iowa (PDI) and to the Hy-Vee warehouse located in to be placed in the warehouse that houses similar items sold mostly to Chariton, Iowa. The perishable items currently in the Lomar warehouse produce departments. will not only be moved to other warehouses, but will also be managed and bought by the staff of the new locations. Lomar is a Hy-Vee owned warehouse housing natural, organic, and specialty items for the Hy-Vee stores. The warehouse services most This change is due to the limited space available in the Lomar every department with the Hy-Vee stores with their large array of warehouse. This re-directing of perishable items will open up space and products. PDI is also owned by Hy-Vee and houses only perishable and allow Lomar to continue to grow by bringing in additional items that frozen items for Hy-Vee stores. Historically, PDI is known for supplying may have been passed on because of the lack of space. the meat departments of the stores. In the past years, PDI has really blurred that line by upping their selection of milks, yogurts, eggs, and PDI will take from Lomar all of the cheese, hummus, probiotics, cultured cheese. PDI is now seen the overall perishable supplier for all of the Hy- items, and drinks. The produce dips and dressings will be shipped to the Vee stores. Hy-Vee warehouse in Chariton. The choice of which items to be sourced to which warehouse was based primarily on which departments in the For more information contact Presence Marketing/Dynamic Presence’s stores were buying the product. Deli, HealthMarket, and meat Michelle Kappel at [email protected].

Schnucks to Open Second Location in Peoria, Announces New Management

Schnuck Markets, Inc. recently announced plans to open a second Schnucks store in Peoria, Illinois, built at the northwest corner of Knoxville and Alta Roads in north Peoria. The new 70,000-square foot, full-service grocery and pharmacy will employ approximately 150 people, anchoring a shopping center with additional retail space available.

The new location will feature Schnucks “Savings Salute,” which guarantees low prices on everyday grocery items, as well as weekly ad prices. In addition to traditional grocery departments, the new store will include meat and seafood departments with a sushi bar, a full-service deli with sliced-to-order specialties including Boar’s Head meats and cheeses, a floral department, a fresh bakery, a specialty cheese section and extensive prepared foods. Schnucks full-service pharmacy expedites prescription pick-up with a convenient drive-through window.

Construction begins in the spring of 2016 with the store and pharmacy scheduled to open prior to the 2016 holiday season. The current Peoria Schnucks store, located at 4800 University Street, opened in November 1999.

Industry veteran Mark Doiron has joined Schnucks as its new chief merchant, serving on the company’s senior management team and reporting to Chairman and CEO Todd Schnuck. He replaces Steve Harper who retired earlier this year. Doiron has more than 25 years of experience in the food and grocery industries, and will be responsible for procurement and merchandising throughout Schnucks’ 99 supermarkets.

Prior to joining Schnucks, Doiron was president of Sure Winner Foods, a frozen food distribution company based in the northeastern United States. Before that, he worked for Delhaize as chief supply chain officer.

Schnucks also announced that Laura L. Freeman, Ph.D., has joined the company as its new chief people officer, leading the company’s human resources division. Freeman brings more than 30 years of experience in HR, talent management and organizational development from her work with Fortune 500 companies.

Rocky Mountains North Academy Natural Grocers Relocating?

The Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage at 7690 North Academy Boulevard in Colorado Springs has submitted plans to the city for a zoning change that would allow the store to move to a freestanding 18,000 square foot Ethan Allen building at 7298 North Academy Boulevard, about a half mile south of the current store. Ethan Allen would relocate to a different site. Natural Grocers has been at the current location for seven years, but the chain has been moving towards more freestanding stores.

New Grocery Category Manager at Natural Grocers

Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage has brought on a second Dry Grocery Category Manager, Nicole Paquette, who has returned to Natural Grocers after some years away from the chain. Please contact your Presence/Dynamic Presence Account Executive Alex Overstreet at [email protected] or Tim Mucha at [email protected] with any questions. To see the full category breakouts please double click the paperclip icon (Adobe Reader):

Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage is adding about 1,000 customers per day to its {N}power loyalty program, and hopes to enroll 200,000 customers by April of this year. The program launched in December. Co-president Kemper Isely said “customers increase their average basket size pretty substantially” as a result of direct offers through the program, which should also increase store sales as more customers enroll in the program.

In other Natural Grocers news, the chain is implementing a company-wide sales event calendar with at least one event per month after the success of their chain-wide 60th anniversary event last year. The company has also brought on Kevin Miller as Vice President of Marketing. Additionally, Natural Grocers plans to continue aggressively growing their private label offerings, and remain focused on nutrient education, which grows supplement sales. Nutrients highlighted by an education promotion see 200% growth within the quarter and up to 100% lift the following quarter.

Sprouts Reveals Q2 New Stores

Sprouts Farmers Market has eleven new stores planned to open in the second quarter of the year. This follows twelve new stores opening in the first quarter of 2016. Each new store employs about 100 people. New stores are planned for:

• Allen, Texas – 265 West Exchange Parkway • Denton, Texas – 4930 Teasley Lane • Duluth, Georgia – 2220 Peachtree Industrial Boulevard • Los Angeles, California – 2245 Yosemite Drive • Loveland, Colorado – 1440 East Lincoln Avenue • Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – 12200 N. MacArthur Boulevard • Overland Park, Kansas – 9620 Nall Avenue • Queen Creek, Arizona – 21181 South Ellsworth Loop Road • Roseville, California – 2030 Douglas Boulevard • San Clemente, California – 550 Camino de Estrella • Vestavia Hills, Alabama – 1031 Montgomery Highway

New King Soopers for Colorado Springs

King Soopers has broken ground on a new 123,000 square foot Marketplace store on the east side of Colorado Springs. The store will be located at the southeast corner of Constitution Avenue and Marksheffel Road in the new Claremont Ranch Marketplace. The Marketplace store is about double the size of a typical King Soopers store and offers housewares and apparel in addition to groceries, along with expanded natural, organic, and deli sections. The rest of the new shopping center will include several stand-alone retail sites and a 15,000 square foot multi-tenant building that will include Pacific Dental, Patriot Liquors and Lux Nails. The center is expected to open in January of 2017.

Taylor Bashas’ Celebrates Grand Re-opening

The Bashas’ at 650 South Main Street in the Silver Creek Shopping Center in Taylor, Arizona celebrated its remodel on February 3rd, with specials continuing through February 6th. The first 200 shoppers were rewarded with a free bag of groceries. The remodel includes: new signage, expanded juice, margarine and butter cases, new self-service lines, and a visual history of the chain at the front of the store. Eco- improvements include a new glazed cement floor and no-wax wood floor that eliminate the need for chemical cleaners and nightly buffing. Bashas’ has been remodeling eight to ten stores per year. The 29,000 square foot store has been in Taylor since 1989.

New VP at Alfalfa’s

Alfalfa’s has named a new Vice President of Purchasing, Merchandising and Marketing. Paul White came on board at the beginning of February. Paul came from Whole Foods Market where he most recently served as their first-ever Global Culinary Coordinator.

© 2016 Presence Marketing, Inc. 11 Florida’s Seminole County Welcomes First Whole Foods Market East It couldn’t have come soon enough for Seminole County residents and visitors alike, but the wait was finally over on January 20th when Whole Foods Market opened their first location in the Central Florida County. The 40,000 square foot store located at 305 E. Altamonte Drive, Altamonte Springs, Florida showed off its customized façade at the grand opening, which was constructed using reclaimed materials from the state’s orange groves. During the festivities, Whole Foods Market staff and customers were treated to the company’s traditional bread breaking ceremony, ringing in the new store. The first location in Seminole County features a coffee and juice bar, pizza station, salads, sandwiches, and aisles of traditional and non-traditional grocery items. The wait for their first Whole Foods Market might have seemed like a while, but Seminole County won’t have to wait long for a curtain call. A store in Central Florida’s Winter Park is currently under construction and will join the county’s flagship store. With these two new locations, Whole Foods Market is now up to 20 stores in the Sunshine State.

Publix Headed to Virginia

Florida-based grocer Publix, announced last month that they will be expanding their footprint and entering the Virginia market for the first time. The company has tentative plans for two stores initially as they continue their push north. Publix entered the North Carolina market in 2014. According to reports, the first stores in the state will be a 54,000 square foot location in Bristol set to open in late 2017 and a 49,000 square foot unit in Richmond’s Glen Allen community. The Richmond location is slated to open sometime in 2018. Virginia will mark Publix's seventh state of operation. The Lakeland based grocer’s steady push north will put them in further competition with Food Lion, Kroger and Wegmans Food Markets, who are established and/or expanding in Virginia, and more notably around the Richmond region. Publix currently operates 1,111 stores in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina and North Carolina, with estimated 2015 sales of over $32 billion.

Publix Goes Back to School

In other related news, Publix recently received approval to open a new 28,800 square-foot store at the University of South Florida in Tampa. The neighborhood-market-style location will be significantly smaller than its standard 45,000 square-foot supermarkets. The store, which is slated for completion in late 2017, is reportedly the first Publix location fully integrated into a student housing village on a college campus, according to reports. It was announced that Publix signed a 20-year ground lease with six five-year term extensions.

Fairway Faces Stiff Financial Climb

More dark clouds gathered above Fairway Group Holdings last month when the New York grocery chain announced it has received a second warning of a potential stock delisting by the NASDAQ exchange. This occurred because the company failed to maintain a minimum market capitalization of $15 million for three consecutive business days. In January, the parent of New York's Fairway Market chain was informed that it was in violation of listing rules requiring for trading below $1 per share for 30 consecutive days. The company said then it needed to maintain a stock price at above $1 per share for 10 consecutive business days or face a potential delisting on July 5th. The latest warning would require Fairway to regain market value of outstanding shares of more than $15 million for 10 consecutive business days by August 9th. Debt, slowing sales and heavy losses are mounting for Fairway, which has seen its stock trade at historic lows for months and has been trading at under $1 per share since November. Its stock on Tuesday closed at $0.31 per share, resulting in a market capitalization of over $13 million.

Wegmans Heading to Tar Heel State Kroger Set for Produce Enhancements

New York-based Wegmans is looking to open its first North Carolina Kroger reportedly is set to spend around $4 million to remodel produce store in Cary, outside of Raleigh. Having signed a letter of intent for a departments at the 51 stores in its Mid-Atlantic division, which comprises 90-acre tract recently, the retailer is currently working through lease North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, eastern Tennessee, Kentucky negotiations. The town of Cary has recently seen an influx of new and southern Ohio. The upgrades are said to include an expanded supermarkets. Both Publix and Harris Teeter opened stores there in selection of products, market-style slant-top display tables, larger 2014. Publix has plans for two more stores in Cary, and Whole Foods refrigerated cases and misting systems. Kroger is one of the world’s Market is rumored to be eyeing the landscape there as well. And it largest grocery chains, with estimated sales of over $108 billion, doesn’t end there. Internationally recognized Lidl has also announced a according to data from the 2014 fiscal year. move into Cary, North Carolina, which would mark its United States debut. With the buzz ongoing south, Wegmans continues to focus on their home market as well. The retailer is opening two new locations in the Rochester, New York metro area – an 115,000 square foot store in Midlothian set to open in May of 2016 and a 120,000 square foot store in Short Pump that will open in August of 2016. Each of the new stores will include full-service restaurants.

Albertsons will convert its three remaining stores in Florida, located in C&S Wholesale Grocers announced recently that it will close its North Largo, Altamonte Springs and Fort Lauderdale, to its Safeway banner. East, Maryland food distribution center permanently in April with layoffs It was reported that the company will spend about $10 million to beginning March 24th. About 200 people are currently employed at the remodel the three units in 2016. President of Albertsons’ Houston facility. Last fall, largely spurred by the bankruptcy and subsequent division Sidney Hopper, commented, “When complete, our new liquidation of one of its largest customers, A&P, and facing a net loss of Safeway locations will have contemporary decor packages, new digital volume of possibly $2 billion, C&S announced that it was embarking on signs and menu boards, a natural/organic zone and living well a restructuring that it estimated could impact 32 facilities across the products.” country. In October of 2015, C&S said that its Collington Services division was planning to close two of its Safeway distribution centers in In 2008, Albertsons sold 49 of nearly 100 stores to Publix and has since Maryland as well. At that time, the company said it was planning to been steadily closing the remaining stores in the south. These are the close distribution centers in Upper Marlboro and Landover, and possibly only stores operated by Albertsons with either the Albertsons or shift some of those operations to facilities in North East and Safeway banner in Florida, and the stores are supplied by a Pennsylvania. According to sources, Safeway has changed course distribution center in Houston, Texas. It has been rumored that the relative to the plan to close the Upper Marlboro grocery distribution buying decisions for the Florida Safeway locations will take place out of center and will instead take over operations there, including existing the banner’s Eastern division. C&S employees, based on a renegotiated collective bargaining agreement that expires in May of 2022.

Southeastern Grocers Eye Remodels

Southeastern Grocers recently launched its pilot Winn-Dixie supermarket, reopening a fully renovated location in Jacksonville, Florida. President and CEO Ian McLeod, said it will be a springboard for more remodeling, and if it proves successful will be rolled out in the Southeast, according to news reports. Changes include major renovations of its fresh, deli and prepared foods, and first-of-its-kind offerings in health foods and beauty. McLeod also said the company expects to remodel 50 stores among its 752 Winn-Dixie, Bi-Lo and Harveys supermarket locations in its eight-state footprint this year. There will be varying degrees of renovation among the stores. Along with the pilot store, Southeastern Grocers launched a refreshed WinnDixie logo, which McLeod said would be rolled out progressively with renovations and marketing.

Price Chopper Names New CEO

The Golub Corporation’s Price Chopper banner recently promoted Scott Grimmett to CEO. Grimmett, who will also carry the title of president, has been a part of the company’s succession plan since joining Golub in January of 2012 as EVP and COO and has been spearheading Golub’s conversion from the Price Chopper brand to the Market 32 brand. Prior to joining Golub, Grimmett spent 37 years at Safeway, serving as president of its Denver division for the last nine years. He replaces Jerry Golub, who was appointed vice chairman and will lead a new board finance committee. In November 2014, Golub announced it would rebrand all of its Price Chopper stores to its higher-end Market 32 format over the subsequent eight to nine years; four stores have been converted to date.

Northwest Marketime Foods Celebrates Grand Re-opening

After years of careful thought and planning, Marketime Foods in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle, Washington celebrated its grand re-opening February 19th to 21st.

The weekend of festivities included vendor demos, giveaways, food tastings, live music and more. The event was a welcome invitation for customers to experience the fresh new look of their neighborhood grocer, which has been independently owned and operated by a local family for over 45 years.

The updated store design offers an additional 1,400 square feet of floor space, with an expanded full service deli, wall to wall grab-and-go cold box, and a gorgeous skylight window at the front end checkout.

Customer service has always been a priority for co-owner Greg Giles, who was proud to report that during the entire re-model the store only needed to shut down early once at 4:00 P.M. so that contractors could pour concrete. We mean it when we say “we want to be your store!”

To learn more about Marketime Foods, please visit their website at www.kensmarkets.com

Canyon County Co-op has joined the co-op food movement. The co-op in Nampa, Idaho opened its doors on January 19th. A grand opening ceremony was held on Saturday, February 6th. The 2,000 square foot space is located in a former Lloyd Lumber cabinet shop at 1415 First Street South in Downtown Nampa. At this point, the Canyon County co-op doesn’t have a prepared foods or a butcher shop but there are plans adding those features. “Our members and community have been supper supportive. We have a great selection of local food and we will continue to grow and expand our departments” said Michael Worman, the Store manager.

The cost to join the Canyon County co-op is $65 for membership. To learn more, please visit their store website at www.canyoncounty.coop.

New Seasons Market Set to Open 18th Store near the University of Portland

New Seasons Market will be opening the doors of their newest store on March 23rd. This 25,000 square foot store on North Lombard and Westanna Street will serve St. Johns, University of Portland, Portsmouth and Cathedral Park neighborhoods, creating 150 jobs for surrounding residents.

New Seasons President Wendy Collie reported “Year after year, this has been one of our most requested potential neighborhoods.” New Seasons partners with both the neighborhoods and communities to honor the history and authenticity of each location.

Founded by three families and 50 friends in 2000, New Seasons Market is the first grocer to become a certified B Corporation, which recognized businesses that value taking care of staff, community and environment.

Super 1 to Build New Store in Great Falls

Super 1 Foods based out of Hyden, Idaho, is planning on opening a new store in Great Falls, Montana. At this time, they have 13 stores located in North Idaho and Montana. The McIntire family has been in the grocery business since 1970, and has been involved with the large Super 1 Foods stores since 1985.

They are leasing a building that was recently vacated by Vans IGA on 10th Avenue South at 32nd Street and planning to add 15,000 square feet to the existing building for a total of almost 50,000 square feet. Super 1 will also be expanding the parking lot by including an empty lot next door. Construction on the store is scheduled to begin in early 2016. They hope to have it complete by the end of 2016 or early 2017. The company expects to employ an estimated 150 workers, including 70 full time positions.

Green Zebra Announces Fourth Store

The highly anticipated fourth store has been announced by Portland, Oregon-based Green Zebra Grocery, after raising a whopping $2.5 million. A 7,000 square foot store at Southeast 50th and Division is planned to open in late 2017. This is the site of their former business offices which will now become a mixed use apartment building with Green Zebra Grocery occupying the ground floor.

The new store will feature multimodal customer parking, indoor seating, Kombucha and beer growler fill up stations, a cooked-from-scratch kitchen, expanded delivery service from Instacart and catering.

Meanwhile, two stores will open this year in the Lloyd District and downtown near Portland State University to accompany its Kenton store in North Portland.

Kroger Opens Fresh Concept Store in Gig Harbor

Kroger has opened its first fresh concept store in Gig Harbor, Washington. The 27,000 square foot space features artisan foods and culinary specialties, carrying the tag line of “where eating is healthy, affordable and fun.” Main & Vine features a large produce selection and 300 bulk items. In the middle of the store is an event center featuring cooking demos, food and beverage tastings and recipes and ingredients as part of Kroger's "What's for Dinner Tonight" program. “From the beginning, the focus of Main & Vine has always been centered on the community and fresh, local and sustainable foods, as well as mainstream grocery items available at affordable prices,” Dann Kohl, Main & Vine's Store Manager, said in a statement.

On February 29th, UNFI announced that they had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Haddon House. For more than 50 years, Haddon House has distributed dry grocery, frozen and refrigerated products throughout the United States and abroad. They have specialized in imports as well as specialty, natural, organic, ethnic and kosher foods. Haddon has a diverse, multi-channel customer base including conventional supermarkets, gourmet food stores and independently owned retailers. According to reports, UNFI is buying Haddon House for $217M in cash and the deal is expected to close in Q4 of 2016. Haddon House has underperformed over the past few years and they have long been thought to be an acquisition target for either KeHE Foods or United Natural Foods.

“Haddon House has a unique product and service offering that we expect to play an important role in our ongoing strategy to build out UNFI's gourmet and ethnic product categories across the country,” stated Steven Spinner, UNFI’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “The Haddon House team has demonstrated exemplary customer service and growth over the last decade while also building a distinctive private label brands business. We are excited to have them join the UNFI family as we venture into new channels and markets together. I look forward to working with David Anderson, Sr. and David Anderson, Jr., both of whom will remain at the company in leadership roles, as we move this exciting service offering and product category across our companies and throughout the US."

“This transaction will provide us with greater operating scale and resources to further develop our product and service offering as we work with the UNFI team to broaden our geographic reach and route to market across complementary and new customer bases. We are excited about the opportunities this combination will create for consumers, employees, suppliers, and our stockholders,” stated David Anderson, Sr., President, Haddon House Food Products, Inc.

The transaction is subject to customary conditions including compliance to antitrust laws. Upon closing, Haddon House will be operated as a wholly- owned subsidiary of UNFI.

2016 KeHE Summer Selling Show Recap

The Summer Selling Show kicked off KeHE’s show season with a bang! KeHE held their show on February 2nd and 3rd at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia. The gorgeous Atlanta weather brought in 1,350 retailers and a total of 1,950 vendor and broker attendees! The KeHE Summer Selling Show was a huge success!

On Tuesday night, there was a lively happy hour where vendors and attendees were able to mix and mingle while still roaming the show floor. KeHE set up bar stations around the convention center with a variety of wines and beers and this was a hit with the participants.

On Wednesday evening, KeHE closed the show with a celebration event at the College Football Hall of Fame which opened its doors back in August of 2014. It was a night showcasing the history of football. From the uniforms, to the equipment, to even showing what people wore back when football first started, it was a night that embraced the American culture of football.

A special recognition belongs to Presence Marketing/Dynamic Presence’s very own Three Twins for winning best new item for Fresh/Frozen category! Amazing job!

The 2016 KeHE Natural Spring Show is set to take place on April 20th to 21st at the McCormick Place in Chicago. For more information regarding this upcoming show, please visit their website at http://events.kehe.com/naturalspringshow or contact Presence Marketing’s Laurie Winter at [email protected] or Chriselda Romero at [email protected].

KeHE Vendor Manager Updates

Tabitha Sewell [email protected] is a new Vendor Manager overseeing the General Merchandise, Pet and Cleaner categories. Anne Evanoff has been managing the Supplements and Baby categories, but her last day was February 19th. Laura McCord [email protected] is managing her desk until a permanent replacement is named.

For more information contact Presence Marketing/Dynamic Presence’s Brittney LeDonne at [email protected], Brian Moy at [email protected], or Joanna Crawford at [email protected]. To see the full breakdown please double click the paperclip icon (Adobe Reader):

KeHE Aquires Monterrey Provision Company

KeHE is pleased to announce that their acquisition of Monterrey Provision Company is official and Monterrey is now wholly owned by KeHE. Monterrey brings expertise in the fresh category which will complement KeHE’s total store solution with expanded leadership for the perimeter of the store.

KeHE values their relationship with the supplier community and are confident this partnership will deliver continued growth for the combined businesses. For approximately 12 months, Monterrey will operate as a standalone business under the KeHE umbrella with no change to their day-to-day operations or functions.

Internal teams are now in place identifying synergies between KeHE and Monterrey operations that will benefit the partnership in the future. Additional information will be shared as the integration progresses.

If you would like additional information, please feel free to reach out to your KeHE contact or your Monterrey Account Manager or Presence Marketing/Dynamic Presence’s Brittney LeDonne at [email protected], Brian Moy at [email protected], or Joanna Crawford at [email protected].

UNFI Lumper Fee Information Capstone Logistics Rate Schedule Capstone Logistics unloading rates will increase March 7th, 2016, at UNFI. To the right is a listing of the rates by service type. Service Type Rate

Acceptable forms of payment are: Breakdown $0.07 per Case

• Visa or Master Card - Credit or Debit Cards Roll Off 1 to 6 Pallets: $10.00 • Comchek or T-Chek • Direct bill Roll Off 7 to 14 Pallets: $20.00 • Cash is not accepted Roll Off 15 Pallets or more: $35.00 Please contact your Presence Marketing/Dynamic Presence UNFI Distributor Account Executive – Pete Psaledas at Minimum Charge Breakdown / Floor Load: $25.00 [email protected], Anne Tallon at [email protected], Heather Levengood at [email protected] or Tracie Sinks at Unloading Rate Restack: $7.00 per Pallet [email protected] for more information.

Threshold Vendor Opportunity

One Love One Earth founder, Ashley Cox, recently returned from a humanitarian mission taking supplies, including dietary supplements, to communities in need. One Love One Earth is a registered non-profit established to support the minds and bodies of students living in slums. The organization does a lot of work in East Africa providing school supplies, uniforms, meals and micronutrients to students who would otherwise be on the streets. They believe that to be successful in school, students need more than backpacks and exercise books – they need proper nutrition to be able to perform well on examinations. They aim to improve overall health, as a key aspect of success in students.

Threshold recently announced their support of the organization. Threshold, “supplied a year supply of vitamin A for five schools of children, and a year supply of multivitamins for former child soldiers from South Sudan, and we are very grateful!” said Ashley.

Other sponsors have included Tera’s Whey, Guayaki Yerba Mate, Patagonia and Aveda. Vendors interested in supporting One Love One Earth visit the website at http://OneLoveOneEarth.org or at https://www.facebook.com/oneloveoneearthfoundation or email founder Ashley Cox at [email protected].

Threshold Enterprises Vendor Contact List

Ad booking: If you would like to book any ads in their price lists or monthly newsletter, please contact them at [email protected]. Please note that if you would like ad space for 2016 (monthly newsletters as well as volume 1 and 2 of the pricelist) they advise you to book as early as possible as space does fill up quickly.

New product submission: If you would like to add new products please email those requests to [email protected].

Promo setup: If you would like to set up MCB’s they can also be sent to the same email address as OI promotions. Alicia Eddy will be the contact for MCB’s and John Keenan will be the contact for OI promotions. Please send all promotion emails to [email protected].

Turnover orders: Turnover orders can be sent to [email protected].

Vendor Velocity Reports: These are free monthly reports offered by Threshold Enterprises. For the Vendor Velocity Report you can email LaWanna Taylor at [email protected], and she will help sign your company up for this report. At the beginning of each month Threshold will send you a personalized Velocity Report. They will send the report to one single contact within your company only. They do not keep archives on these reports so please make sure your contact information is always up to date.

For all pricing changes or questions e-mail: [email protected]

For all UPC changes or questions e-mail: [email protected]

For all PO questions e-mail: [email protected]

For all trainings e-mail: [email protected]

Visit their booth at the Global Pet Expo at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando Florida from March 16th to 18th. Take advantage of the show specials and learn more about their extensive pet product offerings.

March 11th to 13th you’ll find them at the Anaheim Convention Center and Expo West 2016. Please visit the Source Naturals and Planetary Herbals booth #1921 and the Threshold booth #1917.

June 24th they are hosting the Threshold Brand Expo Tabletop show at the Stamford Marriott Hotel and Spa 243 at Tresser Boulevard in Stamford Connecticut.

In August, they’re looking forward to representing their pet product vendors at the Super Zoo Show from August 2nd to 4th, at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

September 22nd to 24th they’ll see you at Expo East 2016 at their booths #5122 and #5022.

Lastly, on October 6th and 7th, they will be hosting another one of the popular Threshold Brand Expo Tabletop shows at the Hilton Long Beach at 701 West Ocean Boulevard in Long Beach, California. Applications for vendors to participate in the tabletop show are accepted on a first-come, first- serve basis.

Vendors interested in Threshold’s tabletop opportunities, and for more information contact: Tradeshow coordinator Danny Ortega, at [email protected] or call (831) 461-6334.

Select Nutrition – Upcoming Events

Expo West – March 11th to 13th, Anaheim Convention Center at booth #2037.

East Coast Tabletop show – April 19th to 20th at Citi Field. The East Coast Tabletop show will be in a new location this year, Citi Field home of the 2015 National League Champion, the New York Mets! Come spend time with the Select Nutrition team and key suppliers at the show, open to all Select Nutrition customers. Enjoy spectacular field views, good food and complimentary ballpark tours!

Portland Tabletop Show – Select Nutrition and UNFI – June 8th to 9th. The 2016 show will be co-hosting with UNFI! Suppliers for both divisions can now attend just one tabletop and sell from both divisions.

Hawaii Tabletop Show – July 15th. Select Nutrition and UNFI will be co-hosting the 2016 Hawaii Tabletop Show at the Hilton Waikoloa Village in Kona, Hawaii.

All vendors who wish to participate in any of the Select Nutrition shows or for more information please contact your SRM or the Marketing Department at (516) 357-0041.

Select Nutrition New SRM’s

There have been two new additions to the Select Nutrition team. The newest SRM’s are Stephanie LaCasse and Freddie Sanchez both based in the Uniondale, New York office. Stephanie is the SRM responsible for sports supplements, protein powders and other categories including: baby supplements and personal care, prenatal, feminine care, cosmetics, sexual health, face wipes and towelette brands, personal care, and supplement brands. Freddie is the SRM responsible for supplements and other categories including: detox and cleanse, ear candles, probiotics, immune, and homeopathics.

Top Growth Categories in the Natural Food Channel Data Update

The natural food channel continues to exhibit steady growth at +8.3% vs. YA. The top ten categories in terms of percentage dollar growth for 52 weeks ending January 24th, 2016 are listed on the graphic to the right.

Boasting greater depth of flavor and less acid, cold brew coffee drove category sales for refrigerated ready-to-drink tea and coffee to +73.4% dollar growth vs YA. Based on previous years’ data, and a distribution up 68.4%, expect continued growth as we head back into the warmer months.

Digestive aids and enzymes had a more modest growth rate at +19% but had the largest marginal revenue, adding $29MM to category sales vs. YA. Among the top items were probiotics which have numerous health benefits, including immune boosting properties. High potency and marketing speaks to consumers in this category.

Aromatherapy and body oils continues to be a top performing category. Currently representing an $85MM category within SPINSscan natural. 48% of dollar sales came from essential oils, but 58% of dollar growth came from the sale of accessories such as diffusers and salt lamps. Strong sales in bath salts, another complement product to essential oils, resulted in the double digit OTC Topical category growth.

While it is one of the smallest categories in terms of total dollar sales, drink mixes and concentrates came in at +26.8% growth vs. YA. This increase occurred primarily during warmer months and is consistent with previous years’ trends for this category. Similarly, the water category’s sales were highest during summer months, up +20.1%.

Other notable categories in the top ten include jerky and meat snacks, and refrigerated condiments. Jerky and meat snacks was the second largest category in terms of dollar growth, up +36.5%, or $7MM over 52 weeks. Paleo and grass fed items had the largest impact on growth for this category. Refrigerated condiments were up +22.1%. This increase was from the sales of pickled and marinated vegetables, specifically, sauerkraut and kimchi.

Natural Channel Growth Index

The Natural Channel Growth Index measure dollars and unit growth utilizing the SPINSscan Natural retail measurement service. The SPINSscan Natural service tracks the sale of all UPC coded products sold within the natural channel. A growth index exceeding 100 represents positive channel growth vs. the same year ago time period.

Total Natural Channel has single digit dollar growth rate of +8.3% and unit sales up +7.3% for the 52 weeks ending January 24th, 2016.

• Growth is widely distributed with 87 of 95 reporting categories delivering positive dollar growth in 52 weeks ending January 24th, 2016. • Ready-to-drink coffee remains the fastest growth category within SPINSscan Natural, with dollar sales up a very strong +73.4% and units up +84.0%. • Jerky and other meat snacks still has the #2 slot in category growth with dollars growing at +36.5% and units growing at +33.0%. • Diet formulas continue to be the biggest declining segment down -35.0% in dollars and down -29.3% in unit sales versus 52 weeks year ago.

If you are interested in learning more about SPINS LLC feel free to visit their website at www.spins.com or contact Bill Petschow, the SPINS on-site at Presence Marketing/Dynamic Presence, at [email protected].

© 2016 Presence Marketing, Inc. 18 Food News, Policy and Research Update – By Steven Hoffman, Compass Natural Marketing GMO News GMO Labeling Battle Hits Fever Pitch in US Senate Committee “markup” meeting to consider the bill was postponed until Under pressure from Big Ag and Big Food companies that don’t want to March 1st, reported Bloomberg Business. comply with Vermont’s mandatory GMO labeling law set to take effect July 1st, Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) on February 19th introduced a version of Washington State Attorney General Seeks to Fine GMA $14 Million the DARK Act to the U.S. Senate. Over Illegal Campaign Financing Scheme in 2013 Defeat of I-522 to Label GMOs The Senate bill, similar to HR 1599 passed by the House of In related news, Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson is Representatives, would invalidate state and federal laws mandating suing the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) for alleged illegal labels for food containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) – campaign financing in the defeat of the state’s 2013 I-522 GMO including Vermont’s mandatory labeling law. Instead, the Roberts bill labeling ballot initiative. proposes creating a strictly voluntary federal labeling program. Calling it one of the most egregious cases of illegal campaign financing in Stating that without federal action, “you are going to just have a state history, Ferguson announced on February 19th he is moving forward hodgepodge where the food industry can’t sell their products,” Roberts with a lawsuit against the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) for told the journal Politico, "We are trying to address the very serious concealing over $11 million in donations from major food companies to problem that is growing more serious daily…The whole point is we have defeat the GMO labeling ballot initiative. to move or else all sorts of bad things happen." In creating a secret donor war chest, the “Defense of Brands” fund to What he means is “before all sorts of bad things happen” to purveyors of defeat the Washington state bill, GMA concealed the donors behind the GMOs who have not had to label food products that contain GMO fund, including major brands, such as PepsiCo, Nestle USA, Coca Cola, ingredients in the US, unlike in 64 other countries, including China, Russia, General Mills, ConAgra and other major food brands that were subject to Brazil, Australia and all 28 EU members, that currently require GMO scathing consumer criticism for supporting the defeat of California’s Prop. labeling on food packaging. 37 to label GMOs in 2012.

Also, in survey after survey, nine out of ten Americans favor mandatory “It was a detailed scheme over many months to purposely, in their words, labeling of GMOs. shield their donors from public scrutiny, and that’s not OK,” Ferguson said in an interview with the Seattle Times. Vermont Senator and Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders expressed opposition to any bill that would seek to delay or block GMA denied the allegations, saying it never intended to break state law. Vermont and other states from requiring labels on genetically modified In court briefs and a statement, GMA criticized Ferguson’s lawsuit as foods. “based on a one-sided mis-portrayal of the facts” and called the state’s disclosure law “hopelessly vague.” “All over this country, people are becoming more conscious about the food they eat and the food they serve their kids. When parents go to the store After the initial lawsuit was filed in October, 2013, GMA agreed to and purchase food for their children, they have a right to know what they disclose its donors. However, Ferguson’s lawsuit argues the damage was are feeding them,” Sanders said in a statement on February 24th. already done, since the group had succeeded for most of the campaign season in hiding the contributors behind the Defense of Brands fund. “The overwhelming majority of Americans favor GMO labeling. We Ferguson is seeking $14 million in fines from GMA. cannot allow the interests of Monsanto and other multi-national food industry corporations to prevail. I am very proud that Vermont took the FDA Promises Mandatory Labeling of GMO Salmon lead nationally to make sure people know what is in the food they eat. After Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) threatened in January to hold up the Vermont and other states must be allowed to label GMOs,” Sanders said. nomination of Dr. Richard Califf as the head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, FDA agreed in February to require mandatory labeling Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), who has championed GMO labeling bills in for genetically engineered salmon. the Senate, told Politico’s Morning Agriculture Report that she is skeptical that Roberts has the support he needs for passage. Boxer said she is “very According to the Alaska Journal of Commerce, FDA is not implementing its concerned about [the bill] because I have a basic belief that people have own guidelines, but providing Murkowski’s office with the necessary a right to know what's in their food. Period. And his whole motivation is to language to force it to require mandatory labeling. Murkowski’s office kill that ability. ... I think this is more than a partisan issue. There are a lot said it plans to introduce a bill in March adding the FDA’s language, and of people who think people have the right to know on both sides of the expects little resistance to its passage. aisle.” “I placed my hold on Dr. Califf’s nomination until my concerns regarding Seeking compromise legislation, ranking Senate Agriculture Committee labeling guidelines for GE salmon had been resolved,” said Murkowski in member Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) is pushing instead for a mandatory a statement on February 11th. “Since then, I have been working closely label and a two-year moratorium on Vermont’s impending law, rather with the FDA to develop labeling guidelines, and I have received the than permanent pre-emption. Roberts said compromise is “doable,” but assurances I need that the FDA is taking this matter seriously. Today I am that he wants a law this year. officially lifting my hold on Dr. Robert Califf, and I look forward to working with him in the future for the health and well-being of Alaskans.” USDA Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said that Vermont’s law will “create chaotic circumstances” if it’s allowed to go into effect. “This needs Last year’s federal omnibus package ordered the FDA to ban the to be fixed,” he said on February 24th in a hearing of the House genetically engineered salmon from the U.S. market until the FDA Agriculture Committee. publishes final labeling guidelines. Currently, FDA allows for voluntary labeling of genetically modified fish, but does not require it. However, the Editorial Board of the New York Times disagreed with Vilsack, issuing the following commentary on February 25th: “Usually, FDA approved the genetically engineered salmon – manufactured by Republicans in Congress are eager to give states more power to set policy Canadian company AquaBounty – for human consumption in late in areas like environmental protection, health care and social services November, 2015. when they think that legislatures and governors will weaken regulations or cut spending to help the poor. In this case, however, they want to take Steven Hoffman is Managing Director of Compass Natural Marketing, providing power away from states that want to impose new rules that their residents brand marketing, PR, social media, and strategic business development services to natural, organic and sustainable products businesses. He served as Marketing support. The only thing these lawmakers seem to favor consistently is Director for the Arrowhead Mills organic brand, is the former Editorial Director protecting corporate interests.” of Natural Foods Merchandiser Magazine, former Education Director of Originally scheduled for February 25th, a legislative Senate Agriculture Natural Products Expo East and West, and co-founder of LOHAS Journal. Contact [email protected].

© 2016 Presence Marketing, Inc. 19 Expo West 2016 Expo West Returning in 2016: the Super Pass! Consider this your all access pass to nearly everything we have to offer in Anaheim. We’ve packaged exhibit hall admission with educational sessions and added some exciting perks. (You still have the option to select the Exhibit Hall Pass).

The early bird deadline has come and gone, but it's not too late to save money on your registration. Qualified Retailers, Distributors (Brokers and Importers/Exporters) and Healthcare Practitioners register for $30 through March 6th, 2016. (prices increase on-site) Register Today!

Download the 2016 Attendee Brochure!

The 2016 attendee brochure contains valuable information to help you plan for Anaheim this year: Download • Complete schedule-at-a-glance • Information on what's included with the Super Pass • Keynote speaker information • Partner events • Descriptions of à la carte options, events and exhibit hall hours.

Retiring – Jim “The Hawk” Hawkins Milestones Jim “The Hawk” Hawkins retired in late January after serving Presence Marketing and our clients for 17 years. Jim joined our sales team back in 1998. “The Hawk” always had that “can do” reputation coupled with a “Minnesota nice smile”…and for 17 years, Jim would go the extra mile to take care of his retail accounts – literally the extra mile. Jim had some pretty small accounts in Nebraska and the Dakota’s that couldn’t always make the Tree of Life minimum so, as the story goes, Jim would meet the truck on the highway and pick up their orders and put them in his sedan and then deliver the product to the stores. With “eagle” like focus, Jim would travel through the “heartland” sometimes leaving his home in Minneapolis on a Sunday afternoon only to return late on a Friday night. “The Hawk’s” tenure with Presence Marketing/Dynamic Presence eventually shifted from sales. Jim became the company’s first full time merchandiser, a job that Jim held until his retirement last month.

Over the years, we had a lot of fun with “The Hawk”. Famous stories from the Kickapoo Getaway at Organic Valley in Wisconsin to Trinity Springs karaoke nights could create enough material for a Coen Brothers comedy. The fun continued in the Twin Cities in late February as we held a retirement dinner for “The Hawk” and his wife and then attended “The Winter Classic” Hockey game between the Minnesota Wild and the Chicago Blackhawks.

When Midwestern folks retire, some move to Florida or Arizona. Not Jim and his wife Laura. They plan on saying right in Minneapolis in their lovely home on top of a hill that overlooks the tree tops. From those heights, “The Hawk” will surely soar.

New Hires

Presence Marketing Dynamic Presence

Midwest East Jen Buehn Data Entry Lead Jeanine Sullivan Account Executive

Northwest Southwest Jason Harris Deductions Coordinator Heidi Matzen Account Executive Assistant

West Jim Granados Merchandiser

© 2016 Presence Marketing, Inc. 20 February Anniversaries Aaron Courteau Dynamic Presence - Midwest 17 Years Andi Hendricks Presence Marketing - Northwest 12 Years Bruce Counley Presence Marketing - Southwest 12 Years Jackie Salata Presence Marketing - Southwest 11 Years Mary Scarcello Presence Marketing - West 9 Years Char Donnell Presence Marketing - Midwest 8 Years Cristina Arreola Presence Marketing - West 8 Years Cindy Sundvall Dynamic Presence - Northwest 8 Years Greg Mishler Presence Marketing - East 8 Years Heidi Hiller Dynamic Presence - East 8 Years Kat Eastham Presence Marketing - Southwest 8 Years Kristin Dolezal Presence Marketing - Rocky Mountains 8 Years Marisa Messenger Presence Marketing - East 8 Years Natalie Nash Presence Marketing - Rocky Mountains 8 Years Shari Robertson Presence Marketing - West 8 Years Zuzana Campbell Dynamic Presence - West 8 Years Casey Levine Presence Marketing - East 7 Years Monika Heinbaugh Presence Marketing - Rocky Mountains 7 Years Alex Overstreet Presence Marketing - Rocky Mountains 5 Years Alissa Bassana Presence Marketing - Southwest 5 Years Amber Spencer Presence Marketing - Northwest 5 Years Erin Sine Presence Marketing - East 5 Years Jamie Bauer Presence Marketing - East 5 Years Jennifer Grano Dynamic Presence - Rocky Mountains 5 Years Michelle Kappel Presence Marketing - Midwest 5 Years Miriam Diaz Dynamic Presence - West 5 Years Tracie Sinks Presence Marketing - West 5 Years Brian Moy Presence Marketing - Midwest 4 Years Carolyn Neidenberg Presence Marketing - West 4 Years Craig Osborne Presence Marketing - Midwest 4 Years Joy Panlaqui Presence Marketing - West 4 Years Zachary Ozuna Dynamic Presence - East 4 Years Rena Palumbo Presence Marketing - Midwest 3 Years Kimberly Pleasants Dynamic Presence - East 3 Years Mark Mondville Presence Marketing - Midwest 3 Years Mychelle Lechman Presence Marketing - Rocky Mountains 3 Years Peter Plumlee Presence Marketing - Midwest 3 Years Mieko Kawashima Presence Marketing - West 2 Years Emily Elliott Presence Marketing - East 2 Years Lori Wesche Presence Marketing - Midwest 2 Years MaMargie Kendrick Dynamic Presence - East 2 Years Aaron Goldwasser Dynamic Presence - East 1 Year Ana Leschishin Presence Marketing - Midwest 1 Year Barbara Dandeneau Presence Marketing - East 1 Year Dale Kamibayashi Dynamic Presence - Rocky Mountains 1 Year Eraina Bottensek Dynamic Presence - Northwest 1 Year Lisa Curtiss Presence Marketing - East 1 Year Emmy Dunbar Presence Marketing - Rocky Mountains 1 Year

Help Wanted Help Wanted

Location Department Job Title

National Sales Account Executive National Sales Account Executive National Sales Account Executive Assistant National Distributor Relations Senior Distributor Account Executive Midwest Sales Sales Representative Rocky Mountains Sales Merchandiser West Sales Account Executive West Sales Sales Representative West Sales Merchandiser West Sales Merchandiser

For more information regarding job opportunities visit http://www.pmidpi.com/careerops.html or email [email protected].

Contributing Editors:  East – Jacob Cook  Midwest – Milton Zimmerman  Southwest – Crystal Stauffer  Northwest – Kari Dodson  Rocky Mountains – Monika Heinbaugh  West – Kaela Waldstein  Distributor News – Pete Psaledas  Data/SPINS – Jerry Stroobosscher