WALGREENSJoe Hartsig (pictured at right) is no longer chief merchandising officer at Walgreens. On March 4, Bed Bath & Beyond announced that it has hired Hartsig as an executive vice president. Hartsig will serve as chief merchandising officer of Bed Bath & Beyond and president of Harmon Stores Inc. He reports directly to Bed Bath & Beyond president & CEO Mark Tritton. No details were provided about the circumstances of Hartsig’s departure from Walgreens.Walgreens chief marketing officer Patrick McLean served as jury chair for the final round of judging of the 2020 Health Effie Awards in the U.S. Judging took place March 3.AMAZONAmazon is reportedly opening a grocery store in a Chicago suburb, though it remains to be seen what type of grocery store it will be. The company filed for a liquor license at a 30,000 square foot space that previously housed a local grocery store, according to The Chicago Tribune.Amid growing third-party logistics competition from the likes of UPS, FedEx, and Walmart, Amazon is preparing to cut fulfillment fees by up to 30% for products sold outside its e-commerce marketplace as early as April 1, according to a third-party seller email cited by Business Insider. WALMARTWalmart has named Jamie Iannone (pictured at right) its chief operating officer for U.S. e-commerce, as first reported by Bloomberg. The mass merchant credits Iannone, who was previously chief executive of SamsClub.com and Sam's Club executive vice president of membership and technology, for helping to grow the membership and online sales of the warehouse club. In his new role, Iannone will report to both Marc Lore, the head of Walmart's e-commerce business in the U.S., and John Furner, who leads the store side of the business, as the company seeks to expand e-commerce sales beyond grocery orders to add more apparel and other general merchandise products. (Walmart recently also combined buying teams for its stores and e-commerce businesses into one team.) Reports cited a memo from the retailer that said Iannone will help Walmart “build an even stronger online business that seamlessly integrates across all teams and channels.” He will oversee e-commerce groups, including Walmart’s marketplace of third-party vendors, its tech incubator Store. No. 8 and start-ups it has acquired.Walmart is talking with Verizon about bringing 5G technology to stores, initially in a pair of locations to power new Walmart digital health services the retailer aims to start offering to shoppers and employees, The Wall Street Journal reported. The tech would also provide faster wireless connections for other store operations and the surrounding community.GROCERYKroger is closing its Fresh Eats Market concept stores, according to WCMH NBC4. The two Ohio-based Fresh Eats Markets in Blacklick and Columbus closed March 4. The retailer began testing the concept in 2017 with the opening of the Blacklick Fresh Eats Market store, which offered shoppers made-to-order food that can be purchased online or with a mobile device, plus indoor and outdoor eating areas, a drive-through pharmacy, a fuel station, and a selection of fresh and packaged food and drinks. "As part of a portfolio review, we have made the decision to discontinue the Fresh Eats MKT concept," A Kroger spokesperson told the TV station. "From the pilot, we have learned many things about how to provide quality, fresh and new foods to our customers. We will incorporate these learnings in other parts of our business."Publix has launched a line of kids clothing in its Fresh Goods company store. Revealed via social media, the line spans infant onesies and toddler T-shirts promoting Publix's free cookies for kids. This comes after the grocer launched its Pub sub gear, depicting its popular private label sandwiches late last year. Publix revealed its fiscal 2019 (ended Dec. 28, 2019) sales were a record $38.1 billion, a 5.6% increase from $36.1 billion in 2018. Same-store sales for the fiscal year increased 3.6%. Net earnings for the fiscal year were a record $3 billion, compared to $2.4 billion the year prior, an increase of 26.2%. The positive results pushed Publix to up its stock price from $47.10 per share to $48.90.