Nonfoods

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. -- The 74,000-square-foot Price Chopper Market Center that opened yesterday in Keene, N.H. marks the second in the state for the Northeast regional grocer, based here. The first New Hampshire Price Chopper location opened in West Lebanon in December 1999.

CARLISLE, Pa. -- Giant Food Stores here has been named the PA Preferred program's first retailer of the year. Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff, whose department designed and created PA Preferred, presented the award to Jeff Martin, Giant's s.v.p., at the annual Farm Show Dinner, held Jan. 6 in the state capital, Harrisburg. The program helps Pennsylvania's small farmers and food processors grow their businesses.

NEW YORK -- A handful of food retailers are among on Fortune Magazine's list of The 100 Best Companies to Work For, and the most prominent, Wegmans Food Markets, came in at No. 2, one off its lead position on last year's list.

DALLAS -- Leading convenience store chain 7-Eleven, Inc. here said last week it is rolling out the next generation of its fresh food program with the national launch of Pick Smart, a selection of sandwiches, grilled items, and packaged baked goods with lower fat and calorie content.

NORWALK, Conn. -- Stew Leonard's, based here, has switched to Whole Harvest SmartFry, a trans-fat free oil made from 100 percent pure soybean oil, to prepare fried chicken, wings, and other menu items in its stores' barbeque departments. Last year the grocer's Norwalk store began testing the oil, the first commercial trans fat-free cooking oil available. Customer response was so positive, the Danbury and Yonkers stores followed suit.

OTTAWA, Ont. -- Farm Boy, Inc., based here, said Friday that it would open two new stores in the Ottawa area in 2006. The first is a 22,000-square-foot store in Barrhaven, scheduled to open in March. The second location, which will be at the Blue Heron Mall, will be renovated and expanded to 16,000 square feet.

MONTVALE, N.J. -- The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., Inc. here is still in the red, but it was able to slow down the bleeding somewhat in its fiscal 2005 third quarter ended Dec. 3, 2005.

NATICK, Mass. -- Noting that comparable-club food sales were on an upswing, BJ's Wholesale Club, Inc. yesterday posted December sales of $965.9 million, a 4.5 percent rise from December 2004's $924.5 million.