Center Store

LAKE FOREST, Ill. - Packaging provider Pactiv Corporation today announced an agreement to purchase Winkler Forming Inc., a thermoformer of amorphous polyethylene terephthalate (APET) for food packaging, for $72.5 million.

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.

CAMDEN, N.J. - Campbell Soup Co. today said it is pursuing possible additions to its portfolio of brands, which includes Pepperidge Farm cookies and V8 beverages, Reuters reports.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Labor Department today said consumer prices rose 0.5 percent in April, the largest increase in almost a year, The Associated Press reports.

Some claim supermarkets are giving away sales to the bakery cafes that are rapidly proliferating in small towns and suburbs.

CHICAGO - Procter & Gamble Co. said on Monday it wants to sell some of the lesser-known brands it acquired in its purchase of shampoo maker Clairol in order to focus on more profitable global brands, Reuters reports.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Wegmans Food Markets has said it will begin selling irradiated fresh ground beef in all its stores by mid-May, making it the first supermarket chain to introduce irradiated beef under a private label.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. convenience store industry reported a 5.0 percent sales increase over those of 2000, climbing to a record $283 billion, despite a decline in motor fuels and in-store margins, according to data on the industry released today by the National Association of Convenience Stores.