Nonfoods

LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles City Council approved an ordinance this week that would make it more difficult for a company that acquires a supermarket to fire the old owner's workers for at least three months.

DEERFIELD, Ill. -- Leading drugstore chain Walgreens here said yesterday its stores would be open Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to help last-minute holiday shoppers and anyone with health care product needs.

BETHPAGE, N.Y -- King Kullen Grocery Co., Inc., based here, has spawned a foodservice arm, The Kullenary, a full-service café/deli offering breakfast, lunch, and dinner to eat in or take out.

BOULDER, Colo. -- IZZE Beverage Company, a brand in the emerging sparkling juice category, tapped SoBe founder and former c.e.o. John Bello as a member of the company's board of directors. Bello is also a partner with Sherbrooke Capital, the venture capital group that led the $6.35 million equity-financing round for IZZE this past January.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Let the 2006 mergers begin. Spartan Stores, Inc. here said it plans to acquire D&W Food Centers, Inc., also based here, in a deal that could add $200 million a year to Spartan's sales revenue.

LONDON -- It's not just U.S. supermarkets that are being affected by growing waistlines and consumers' desires to eat healthier. Sales of popular brands of traditional snack foods and sweets in Britain are suffering from a slump, according to a new study by The Grocer, a British trade publication, based on ACNielsen sales data.

PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y. -- Note to grocers courting Hispanics: Try to gauge how long your target market's been absorbing American culture. As they acculturate, Hispanics living in the United States develop progressively more Americanized eating habits, a study by the NPD Group here found.

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- AG Supermarkets, Inc., the retail subsidiary of Associated Grocers of New England here, said Friday it has opened a new upscale Harvest Market format in Hollis, N.H.