Ahold Delhaize

AMSTERDAM -- Ahold here has declined to comment on rumors that New York-based global private equity fund Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) may bid on Ahold's U.S. operations, which include grocery banners Stop & Shop, Giant-Carlisle, and Giant-Landover, while U.K. supermarket giant Tesco was interested in the Dutch retail conglomerate's European operations.

QUINCY, Mass. -- Ahold USA said it plans to offer fully automated DVD rental kiosks in Stop & Shop and Giant Food locations throughout the Northeast, in the wake of a successful yearlong trial at 12 Stop & Shop and Giant stores.

SCARBOROUGH, Maine -- Hannaford Supermarket and Pharmacy here will hold the grand opening of its new 62,000-square-foot Rochester, N.H. store on Saturday, Jan. 28.

CERRITOS, Calif. -- Retail marketing services firm Mass Connections, based here, is hosting its 10th Annual "Connecting to the Consumer & Shopper" Conference in Long Beach, Calif. Feb. 15-17. The conference is open to the retail industry.

SALISBURY, N.C. -- Regional retailer Food Lion LLC, a unit of the Delhaize Group, yesterday laid out its plans to expand its two experimental banners, Bloom and Bottom Dollar, to new southeast markets. Bloom will be introduced to shoppers in Washington, D.C. area and Upstate South Carolina, while Bottom Dollar will expand to Washington only.

NEW YORK -- Following are several retail newsmakers from National Retail Federation's 95th Annual Convention & EXPO, held here this week:

AMSTERDAM -- Royal Ahold here reported preliminary consolidated net sales, excluding currency impacts and an extra calendar week in 2004, for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2005 of 10.8 billion euros (US $13.0 billion), a 0.6 percent increase. The overall performance of the retail giant's U.S. operations, which also Giant-Carlisle/Tops arena and U.S. Foodservice, was decidedly mixed, however.

The refrigerated dough category looks to the smaller-household, health-and-wellness, and private label segments to reinvent itself.