Through a partnership with up-and-coming racquet sports booking platform Break the Love, Walmart has created a program that will make it easier for communities to come together around one of the fastest growing sports in America: pickleball. The program will offer 125,000 comped reservations for Walmart customers and associates, and allow them to book playtime at pickleball venues across the country for free.

According to Walmart, the collaboration aims to break down barriers and make pickleball more approachable by creating new opportunities for customers to have fun, connect with friends and prioritize their wellness. The program will help the retailer expand its commitment to meet customers where they are by offering ways to add value to their lives.

[Read more: "Walmart Rolling Out Revamped ‘Store of the Future’ in Virginia"]

“We are always looking for ways to create meaningful experiences that encourage our customers to interact with Walmart in new ways,” said Casey Schlaybaugh, VP, brand marketing and strategy for Walmart U.S. “Walmart is dedicated to supporting its customers and their communities, helping them find and access everyday opportunities to create moments of joy and connection in their lives.”

The program will also include 25 community events in cities across the country; a seamless and curated online shopping experience with the top pickleball merchandise; short-form video content featuring demos, tips and tricks; and exclusive offerings for Walmart+ members.

Each week, approximately 230 million customers and members visit Walmart’s more than 10,500 stores and numerous e-commerce websites under 46 banners in 24 countries. The Bentonville, Ark.-based company employs approximately 2.3 million associates worldwide. Walmart U.S. is No. 1 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2022 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.

Claiming a lack of protections since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic as they "kept Minnesotans fed," more than 3,000 Cub grocery store workers declared their intent to hold a vote to strike on Tuesday, April 4.

As reported by Fox 9, United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI) workers who are United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 663 members made the announcement via a Zoom press conference on April 3, claiming that employee members have been working without a union contract since March 4.

According to UFCW 663 President Rena Wong, members are seeking a raise of $4 per hour throughout the next two years for full-time employees, and raises every six months for part-time employees.

Cub Foods workers have said they’ve been paid on a 2018 wage scale.

The contract negotiation covers 33 Cub stores, primarily in Minneapolis and the western Twin Cities suburbs. There are a total of 79 Cub stores across Minnesota.

According to a Cub media statement: "Cub cares greatly about its team members and has negotiated diligently and in good faith with UFCW local union #663 to finalize a new collective bargaining agreement. As part of its current offer, Cub has proposed historic wage increases and agreed to ongoing union health and pension plans on terms specifically requested by the union.

We’re deeply disappointed that the union elected to spend today taking a strike authorization vote instead of using that time to meet with us to reach agreement on terms for a new contract. It is our strong hope that the union will choose to continue negotiations rather than pursue a strike. In the event there is a strike, we are prepared to implement contingency plans to ensure the continued availability of the products and services our guests have come to count on from Cub."

Vote totals are expected to be revealed around 8 p.m. Tuesday via Facebook.

Providence, R.I.-based UNFI delivers a wide variety of products to customer locations throughout North America, including natural product superstores, independent retailers, conventional supermarket chains, e-commerce retailers and foodservice customers. The largest publicly traded grocery distributor in America, the company is No. 49 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2022 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.

To mark Earth Month in April, meal kit company Green Chef has introduced an Earth Month Selects menu category featuring 12 premium sustainable recipes. The new menu items offer bold flavors made with sustainably sourced seafood, organic proteins, produce and eggs, as well as upcycled ingredients. The recipes were also created to have a lower carbon footprint. 

Featuring such recipes as Shiitake Mushroom Bok Choy Udon Soup with Egg, Salmon Truffle Mushroom Florentine with Roasted Herb Potatoes, Chicken Broccoli Spaghetti Squash Scampi, and Peruvian Barramundi With Lime Honey Carrots and Savory Garlic Butter Paprika Potatoes, the earth-friendly series provides options for omnivore, keto, vegetarian and vegan diets. Three recipes will be available each week throughout the month of April for an additional cost of $2.99-$9.99 per serving.

[Read more: "HelloFresh Steps Up Donations to Alleviate Food Insecurity"]

The earth-friendly rollout comes in tandem with Green Chef’s partnership with One Tree Planted, a Shelburne, Vt.-based nonprofit organization focused on global reforestation. During the month of April, Green Chef will plant a tree in northern Thailand for every new and returning customer who signs up to receive a Green Chef box of meal kits. 

The first CCOF-certified organic meal kit company, Boulder, Colo-based Green Chef has also committed to reduce the environmental impact of its meal kits by offsetting 100% of its plastic packaging and direct carbon emissions generated from its operations, travel and shipping, and by producing less food waste than traditional grocery store meals. Green Chef is owned by Berlin-based HelloFresh, which operates in 18 international markets and is No. 50 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2022 list of the top retailers of food and consumables in North America. 

Dayton, Ohio, nonprofit Homefull has started work on a $50 million project that will bring a grocery store, primary care practice and pharmacy to an area food desert. Homefull Grocery and Market Place will be a 48,000-square-foot, two-story building with a full-scale supermarket that will have dairy, produce, meats, a deli, household products and more.

[Read more: "BJ's Returns to Central Ohio After 20-Year Hiatus"]

"We're excited about the Homefull Grocery and Market Place and what it's going to bring to the neighborhood,” said Tina Patterson, CEO of Homefull, during a groundbreaking ceremony on March 30. “First off, this is a food desert. Families in this community have no real grocery store that they can call their home grocery store. They travel for many miles to get it so we're super excited about being a hometown grocery store.”

Homefull Grocery and Market Place will additionally focus on housing, education, advocacy and job opportunities for community members. The grocery store, doctor’s office and pharmacy are expected to be completed next summer.

A longtime Lucky location in Larkspur, Calif., in the San Francisco Bay area is closing its doors.  According to The Save Mart Cos., which owns the banner, the store at 570 Magnolia Avenue will serve its last shoppers on April 14.

The Larkspur site opened in 1982 and served the local community for decades, providing competitively-priced products. Upon news of its closing, many local residents took to social media to lament the loss of the store, especially during a time of high inflation.

[Read more: "Save Mart’s Micro-Warehouse Goes Robotic"]

Other business will fill the food retailing gap. Trader Joe’s operates a nearby store, as does Mollie Stone’s Markets, Safeway, and, a bit further north in the way of San Rafael, Grocer Outlet Bargain Market.  

In a statement to local media, Save Mart thanked the customer base for the support, declaring: “Lucky has been serving the community for decades and we will remain committed to serving the community at our full-service Novato Lucky store.”

Although this Lucky outpost is being shuttered, Save Mart is expanding services in other ways. Earlier in March, the company announced it is extending Save Mart operating hours at several locations until 11 p.m. on weekdays and midnight on weekends. Last fall, the retailer opened a new Lucky store in the Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco, an area that had been considered a food desert.  

Based in Modesto, Calif., The Save Mart Cos. operates more than 200 retail stores under the banners of Save Mart, Lucky California and FoodMaxx. The company also operates SMART Refrigerated Transport and is a partner in Super Store Industries. Save Mart is No. 55 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2022 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. 

GetGo Café + Market, which is owned and operated by Giant Eagle Inc., is launching Free Coffee Mondays at all of its locations. Starting Monday, April 3, for a limited time, guests will get a free GetGo self-serve coffee with their Advantage Card or myPerks card every Monday, with no purchase necessary. The promotion applies to any of GetGo’s fresh-brewed hot- and iced-coffee varieties, along with the chain’s new nitro and cold-brew products.

“At GetGo, our guests are our top priority, and they’re at the center of everything we do,” said Giant Eagle EVP and GetGo COO Tony Harris. “Whether it’s that morning pick-me-up or that afternoon indulgence, we know coffee goes a long way in making your day that much better. With Free Coffee Mondays, we want to give our guests a great start to the week with a great-tasting coffee for free.”

This past February, GetGo completed a chainwide upgrade of its self-serve beverage bar area. The technology and equipment upgrade included a rollout of new bean-to-cup coffee machines, which feature GetGo’s new “signature blend” coffee beans, and the addition of new nitrogen-infused and cold brew coffees.

Customers  are limited to one free coffee each Monday. The nitro and cold-brew latte products aren’t available at all locations.

With 260-plus locations, GetGo offers food and fuel in a variety of models, from open-concept stores to stand-alone kiosks. GetGo is owned by Pittsburgh-based Giant Eagle, which operates more than 490 stores throughout western Pennsylvania, north central Ohio, northern West Virginia, Maryland and Indiana. The company is No. 36 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2022 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.