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Vons Companies Inc.'s strategy of leasing out video-rental space to Marbles Entertainment seems to be working as, by the end of Jan. 1997, it will have expanded its number of in-store video rental departments to eleven. The arrangement allows Vons to continue renting out movies where many other supermarket chains have failed due to the high labor costs involved. The Vons-Marbles partnership will remain intact despite Vons' prospective acquisition by Safeway., ARCADIA, Calif. -- Hindered by high labor costs and small store sizes, southern California supermarket chains have found it difficult to gain a foothold in the highly competitive video rental [...]

Supermarket retailers are better able to market video title rentals by participating in shared-revenue programs. These programs, which allow retailers to provide larger numbers of tape copies for a particular title, enable the retailer to purchase tapes at low prices in return for sharing rental revenue with suppliers. One drawback of stocking large numbers of titles is that retailers lose valuable merchandising space. Additionally, retailers appear more interested in the promotional aspects of shared-revenue programs instead of the program's potential for profit., Retailers are greatly increasing copy depth on key new-release hits with shared-transaction-fee programs. More of the chains are using shared-revenue programs, such as those from SuperComm, Dallas, and Rentrak Corp., [...]

As apparel chains struggle to maintain margins in a volatile marketplace, the grocery industry has found its groove. And although supermarkets aren't immune from the margin hunt, they have the [...]

LEASED AND FRANCHISED BAKERIES: MORE RECIPES TO CHOOSE FROM New options are emerging for supermarkets that want to offer a full-service bakery without expending the effort required to develop and [...]

When Tesco announced it was giving its milk producers a pay rise of up to 30%, it looked like a miraculous turnaround. For years the retailer had claimed it had [...]

ALBERTSONS SUPERVALU, Boise, Idaho Design: WD Partners, Dublin, Ohio Suppliers/consultants: Western Extralite, Kansas City, Mo.; P&R Group, Chicago (custom graphics); Davis Colors, Beltsville, Md. (concrete); Con-Tech, Columbus, Ohio; Delray Lighting, [...]

Patty Bianco Manager, Store #119, Grand Island, N.Y., Tops Markets LLC Patty Bianco's store earnings in 2013 were in the top five for the total company. She also reached or [...]

Pathmark Stores here said it has entered into a longterm supply agreement with C&S Wholesale Grocers, Brattleboro, Vt., under which C&S would take over Path- mark's distribution facilities and become [...]

The three-way deal between Piccadilly Cafeterias Inc, wholesaler-distributor Associated Grocers, and the retail members of Associated, has given a new dimension to co-branding. Associated Grocers' retailers in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi have been given the exclusive right to link with units of the cafeteria chain. Interest in home-meal replacements was a major factor in the agreement, which is Piccadilly's first with a supermarket., Co-branding takes on a new dimension in a three-way deal between wholesaler-distributor Associated Grocers here, its retailer-members and a popular local cafeteria chain. In a move that gives life to [...]

Food manufacturers who want to distribute samples of their products may find their work subject to more control, as grocers sign exclusive contracts with demo firms. The H.E. Butt Grocery Co., of San Antonio, TX, has a contract with Quality Demos, based in Sonora, CA, and no competing firms are allowed in Butt supermarkets. Eagle Food Centers, Milan, IL, has a contract with Mass Connections to oversee and monitor the performance of demo firms. Also described are methods used by other supermarkets to control demos., With the popularity of in-store sampling soaring among brand marketers, retailers across the country are taking more control over the practice. Sampling may never be the same. Manufacturers wishing to [...]

Byline: JOELLE DIDERICH Qatar's Printemps Bid PARIS Qatar is on the verge of gaining another prestigious fashion foothold in Europe. Having already snapped up London department store Harrods in 2010, [...]

Byline: DAVID MOIN EBay Taps Designers For Xmas Collection If target and Neiman Marcus can do it, why can't eBay? Corralling designers for exclusive Christmas products has become a trend [...]

Byline: ELLIOT ZWIEBACH LOS ANGELES - Members of seven Southern California locals of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union are set to vote this Friday, Aug. 19, on whatever [...]

Byline: JOELLE DIDERICH Carrefour Said Eyeing Deal With Brazilian Retail Firm PARIS Carrefour SA has reached out to Brazilian retail group Companhia Brasileira de Distribuiçao (CBD) to discuss merging their [...]

Byline: JON SPRINGER When hard times come, unionized retailers and their laborers typically resolve to 'share the pain.' Unfortunately for many, there's still plenty of it to go around these [...]

Byline: ELLIOT ZWIEBACH PLEASANTON, Calif. - Safeway here may be poised to shift its natural and specialty food business to United Natural Foods Inc., Providence, R.I. According to Edward Aaron, [...]

Byline: JULIE GALLAGHER EDINA, Minn. - Lund Food Holdings is working with the Gluten Intolerance Group of North America (GIG) to gain its official endorsement of Lunds and Byerly's stores. [...]

WAL-MART MULLS NEW MASSMART BID BENTONVILLE, Ark. - Wal-Mart Stores may scale back its planned acquisition of Massmart, the South African retailer said last week. Wal-Mart in late September made [...]

Byline: JON SPRINGER What looked to be shaping up as a good time politically for labor unions in the U.S. has been interrupted by the struggling economy and slow progress [...]

Safeway Stores Inc has terminated purchases of Eveready Battery Inc's battery products and will market Duracell batteries exclusively in most stores, augmented by Sony and Kodak products in certain divisions. Eveready's distribution pricing policy appears to be the major factor in the cancellation decision. Eveready has refused to ship the lower-priced large pallet displays to supermarket warehouses but supplies them to competitive individual warehouse stores., OAKLAND, Calif.--Safeway is dropping Eveready batteries from its stores nationwide. A Safeway official confirmed the battery line was being dropped. 'It was a business decision that we, obviously, had some [...]

Supermarket operators have mixed feelings about pay-per-rental video programs. While some retailers see pay-per-rental as a good, inexpensive way to stock new releases, others see it as a way to lose money. Retailers can lease new releases for a cost of $8-$12 per tape through pay-per-rental instead of paying over $60 to own the tape, but rental revenues must be split between the vendors and the supermarket. The two largest vendors are Portland, OR-based Rentrak and Dallas, TX-based Supercomm., The high cost of obtaining enough copies of new release titles to meet consumer demand is prompting many retailers to take a close look at pay-perrental shared-revenue programs. Customer demand [...]

PHOENIX - Chandler, Ariz.-based Bashas' has reached agreements with the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union and related entities that would call off all lawsuits and other pending actions [...]

WHEN PEYTON MANNING needed a supermarket partner for his Project 18 program, he immediately turned to Marsh Supermarkets. The two have enjoyed a long-term professional relationship that remains strong today. [...]

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Penn Traffic here has entered into a forbearance agreement with its lenders after what it termed a 'technical default' on its loans. The retailer, which has been [...]

Scolari"s Food & Drug plans to enhance its online presence with new digital shopper planning services that include online access to weekly circulars, printable coupons, personalized specials, recipes, wine pairings [...]

WORKERS STRIKE AT SAFEWAY CANADA EDMONTON, Alberta - Around 350 warehouse and manufacturing center employees of Safeway Canada here walked off the job last week in a strike a union [...]

UNION VOTES ON KING SOOPERS OFFER DENVER - Workers for Kroger's King Soopers chain here are scheduled to vote on the employer's latest contract offer this week in a decision [...]

Reducing carbon output across the supply chain is something that many retailers strive to do, but it takes a national chain like Safeway to set the standard. Three years ago, [...]

LIQUIDATORS, C&S EYE BRUNO'S BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - A hearing to confirm results of last week's auction of Bruno's Supermarkets here was postponed until this week, the company said, saying it [...]

BRUNO'S WORKERS MAY GO ON STRIKE BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Membership of United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1657 could call a strike in the event that Bruno's and Food [...]

AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. - Kroger Co. later this month will unveil a chainwide promotion for a new Grain Foods Foundation (GFF) initiative that aims to benefit the nation's food banks. [...]

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Bruno's Supermarkets asked U.S. Bankruptcy Court here to void parts of its contracts with the United Food and Commercial Workers union last week, saying that successor agreements [...]

Hannaford Supermarkets will feature KDM Global Partners, LLC's line of Black Elk wines at its stores as part of a 'Wines of the World' program in January 2009, according to [...]

Supervalu's fleet of stores is throwing its support behind the American Heart Association's 'Go Red For Women' campaign aimed at educating women about the risk factors for heart disease. The [...]

WEGMANS PHASING IN 'RETRO' LOGO ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Wegmans Food Markets here has begun introducing a new store logo that harks back to its logo of the 1930s and 1940s. [...]

SUPERMARKET STOCKS TAKE HIT NEW YORK - Last week's stock-market implosion - which included single-day declines in the Dow Jones Industrial Average of more than 500 points on Monday and [...]

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Bruno's Supermarkets last week said it hopes to reestablish the strong image its stores once had by hiring a California-based marketing firm to redesign the look of [...]

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Penn Traffic Co. here said last week it will expand its procurement agreement with C&S Wholesale Grocers to encompass virtually all categories in an effort to free [...]

The Kroger Co. has hammered out another tentative deal with a local labor union, this time with the United Food & Commercial Workers Union Local 1059. The pact covers more [...]

LOS ANGELES - Ralphs has partnered with Eaturna, a prepared foods company based here, to launch a line of organic and all-natural grab-and-go entrees, appetizers, side dishes and desserts at [...]

NASHVILLE -- Fleet One LLC forged an agreement with Kroger recently, which will allow the retailer to accept the Fleet One Local fuel card at all 720 Kroger-owned grocery stores [...]

EXECUTIVES BUY OUT NO FRILLS CHAIN OMAHA, Neb. - No Frills Supermarkets here said last week it has reached an agreement to sell the company to a group of seven [...]

Asda and Morrisons have made named account data available to manufacturers through market intelligence provider IRI (Information Resources Inc). The information will enable manufacturers to gain insight into sales at [...]

BODEGA LATINA TO BUY 7 GIGANTES COMMERCE, Calif. - Bodega Latina Corp. here, operators of nine El Super supermarkets, said last week it will purchase the seven Southern California stores [...]

The Australian government has announced a new land development deal to make it easier for foreign supermarket chains to open stores in the country. In a bid to improve the [...]

CHESHUNT, England - Tesco here and London-based Dunnhumby have signed an agreement that will allow the market research firm to monitor the shopping habits of more than 60 million Tesco [...]

DELHAIZE CLOSES GREEK DEAL, ANNOUNCES ROMANIAN BUY BRUSSELS - Delhaize Group said last week that it had closed on the $108.5 million purchase of Plus Hallas, a chain of grocery [...]

The Penn Traffic Co. and the Western Union Co. said yesterday that they have rolled out Western Union services at more than 140 of the retailer's stores. Under an agreement [...]