Publix

NEW YORK -- Supermarket chains and independent grocers along the Gulf Coast yesterday closed their doors and prepared as best they could to face the worst, including unprecedented cleanup efforts, as Hurricane Katrina pummeled the region with rain and brutal winds. Meanwhile, stores in the Southeast were bracing for more of the same, as the massive storm spun its way toward them.

LAKELAND, Fla. -- Publix plans to join the University of Florida IFAS's Center for Food Distribution and Retailing (CFDR), and electronic trading solutions provider RedTail Solutions, Inc., in a research pilot featuring RFID technology and network-based information exchange to improve the distribution of fresh produce.

LAKELAND, Fla. -- Privately held Publix Super Markets yesterday reported a successful second quarter that saw a jump in total sales and comps, as well as an increase in the price of its stock, which is available only to its associates and members of its board of directors.

Clamping down on retail losses should be everybody's business.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - A U.S. bankruptcy judge yesterday approved Winn-Dixie's sale of prescription records to 10 different companies, supplying the retailer with about $16.5 million on the second day of a series of hearings that ends today. The sale of 11 supermarket leases was also approved earlier in the day, with more leases expected to be approved today. On Wednesday the judge approved Winn-Dixie's sale of 15 leases for $18 million.

LAKELAND, Fla. -- Publix Super Markets here could receive $3 million in tax rebates if a retail development project planned for downtown Fort Myers, Fla. is approved, according to a report in the News-Press of Southwest Florida.

NEW YORK -- Stop & Shop, Publix, Meijer, and Kroger are among the supermarket operators conjuring up special events to promote tonight's release of the latest book in the hugely successful Harry Potter series, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," by J.K. Rowling.

PHOENIX, Ariz. -- Publix is not the only grocer giving the Hispanic segment of its shoppers a store to call their own. Pro & Sons Ranch Market yesterday celebrated the grand opening of its latest Hispanic specialty prototype here, a 103,140-square-foot Phoenix Ranch Market.