Equipment & Design

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc., based here, and Sara Lee Food & Beverage will join forces with the School, Home & Office Products Association (SHOPA) Kids In Need Foundation to present the students of Greenlawn Terrance Elementary School in Hurricane Katrina-ravaged Kenner, La. with prepackaged boxes of school supplies.

TORRANCE, Calif. -- First the British, via Tesco, and now the Japanese; actually the Japanese were here first. Famima Corp., a subsidiary of Tokyo-based convenience store chain FamilyMart Co., Ltd., said yesterday it would launch the third of 20-plus high-end specialty stores in the Los Angeles area in 2006, as part of a planned major U.S. rollout.

CARLISLE, Pa. -- With one-stop shopping quickly becoming a growing trend, Giant Food Stores here and its Williamsville, N.Y.-based Tops Markets sister division are embarking on two new ways to add even greater value for customers: a new "Guaranteed Value" grocery and household product line and a new "Your Neighborhood Drugstore," concept for its heath and beauty care and sundries categories.

WASHINGTON -- The commonly used Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) will allow manufacturers and others to meet the record-keeping requirements specified in the Bioterrorism Act of 2002, which go into effect on Dec. 9, according to the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA).

Exclusive-brand programs in fresh categories are paying off for retailers that have a clear, premium point of difference -- but they've got to hit the mark.

In a retail world of seemingly infinite choices, any channel is a viable option for the food shopper. Here's a look ahead at some of the most viable.

NATICK, Mass. ¿ BJ's Wholesale Club, Inc. yesterday said that its sales for August 2005 rose 12 percent to $598.0 million, from $534.1 million in the same period last year. On a comparable-club basis, sales grew 5.6 percent for the month, including a contribution from sales of gasoline of about 3.4 percent, and healthy comp increases of food.

General merchandise and HBC have gone from grocery's stepchildren to leading players in Stop & Shop's prototype format.