Walmart

TROY, Mich. -- Kmart, based here, said it will shutter three Super Kmart stores in the Memphis, Tenn. area, but industry observers say it could only be a matter of time before the discount chain, which completed a merger with Sears in March, does away with its ailing food-retailing business altogether.

LEEDS, United Kingdom -- Wal-Mart-owned ASDA, the second-largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom, says it will pare 1,400 jobs, 200 of them at the company's headquarters here and 1,200 at stores, as it attempts to lower costs and catch up to No. 1 U.K. grocer Tesco, according to published reports. ASDA executives revealed their plans at a press briefing in London yesterday.

Bill's Fresh Markets is a plucky family-owned company that's managed to find success on the Bentonville behemoth's home turf.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- It's a good thing for Wal-Mart that people have to eat. The latest figures from ACNielsen's Wal-Mart Channel Service for the 52-weeks ended May 14, show that growth in food and beverage sales more than offset an actual decline in sales of UPC-coded general merchandise at Wal-Mart supercenters and discount stores over the past year.

WEST BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- Shaw's Supermarkets here is installing 15-inch video monitors at checkout counters, in addition to 42-inch plasma TV screens, at 93 Shaw's and Star Market stores in the Boston area, as part of a chainwide media network, according to a report in the city's Herald newspaper.

MINNEAPOLIS -- In a move that promises to have a profound effect on American retailers, including supermarkets, a class action suit was filed against major banks and credit cards companies charging them with collusion in imposing onerously high interchange fees on retailers for credit card transaction.

CINCINNATI ¿ Kroger Co.'s stock price was whipped about by the market yesterday, after a financial analyst from J.P. Morgan said the chain's reported gains for the first quarter could not be sustained, and its strong outlook on the rest of the year was probably too ambitious.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. --Winn-Dixie's taken out the pruning shears, in a recovery strategy that will radically cut back the organization before rebuilding it.