Perimeter

ST. LOUIS, Mo. - On the heels of last week's unveiling of its first Collierville, Tenn. store built from the ground up, Schnuck Markets, Inc. is aggressively embarking on Phase II of its Mid-South expansion plans.

BELLEVUE, Wash. and SAN MATEO, Calif. - drugstore.com, inc., an online provider of health, beauty, vision, and pharmacy products, and WageWorks, Inc., a provider of consumer-friendly employee spending accounts for health care and dependent care, have joined to enable automatic verification of flexible spending account (FSA)-eligible purchases made using the WageWorks Health Care Card at the drugstore.com online store.

LAKEVILLE, Minn. - Grist Mill Co., based here, is voluntarily recalling Fruit & Nut Trail Mix Granola Bars and Muesli Cereals, sold under retailer brand names, because they are potentially contaminated with salmonella.

WASHINGTON - Retail prices for food at the supermarket dropped 2.5 percent in the second quarter of 2004, according to the latest American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) market basket survey. The informal survey on the total cost of 16 basic grocery items showed a decrease of 99 cents from the 2004 first-quarter survey.

The c-store segment continues to improve its portable fresh food lineup -- and reputation -- and supermarkets can ill afford to ignore their cross-channel competitors' bid to boost business from the inside out.

Sales and merchandising may center on the winter holidays, but the time is always right for an exciting hors d'oeuvres assortment.

SAN FRANCISCO - The tuna industry disputes the state of California's suit against the producers of Bumble Bee, Chicken of the Sea, and StarKist for not warning shoppers about mercury content, saying that such an action could do more harm than good.

NEW YORK - An increased interest in appearance, hygiene, and grooming on the part of today's males has contributed to the growth in personal care categories around the world, according to a study released today by ACNielsen, a VNU business and the world's leading marketing information company.