Development/Redevelopment

PARIS - France's Carrefour SA today said that it will open eight hypermarkets in China this year as it seeks to double its hypermarket presence in the country by 2004, Dow Jones Newswires reports.

SAN ANTONIO - H-E-B has agreed to acquire nine Albertson's stores in Texas that had been closed as part of Albertson's restructuring plan, according to published reports.

BOISE, Idaho - Albertson's Inc. today unveiled a major commitment to its future in Southern California by committing more than $1 billion in capital investment during the next three years for new stores and remodels.

PLANO, Texas - J.C. Penney Co. Inc. has said it will overhaul most of its Eckerd drugstore chain this year and next, but Chief Executive Allen Questrom said on Friday the company hasn't ruled out selling the drugstore unit, Reuters reports.

LANDOVER, Md. - Giant Food, owned by Royal Ahold, has announced it will open a new fresh food distribution center in Howard County, Maryland that should be in operation by the mid-summer of 2003.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced on Wednesday its plans to open as many as 40 Wal-Mart Supercenters in California over the next four to six years. Specific locations and dates were not announced.

BANGKOK - The U.K.'s leading supermarket operator Tesco PLC plans to raise its total number of hypermarkets in Thailand from 33 to 50 by 2004, a top executive said today, Dow Jones reports.

NEW YORK - Albertson's Inc. said today it would invest $184 million to build new stores and fuel centers in the Dallas/Fort Worth market, as it continues to face fierce competition led by Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Reuters reports.