Trading Partners

With private label brands currently accounting for more than one-third of all shopping cart purchases in the United States, it’s safe to say that our depressed economy has done wonders for the private label sector.

Pittsburgh’s grocery scene became a lot larger today with the long awaited unveiling of Giant Eagle’s 150,000-square-foot flagship Market District destination store in the new Settlers Ridge lifestyle shopping center in Robinson Township.

Progressive Grocer is seeking your help in compiling our annual list of leading women in the supermarket industry, to be featured in our annual Top Women in Grocery issue. In a business where males have traditionally far outnumbered females, we recognize the women who are helping initiate change. These women represent all major sectors of the grocery industry - retailers, suppliers, and wholesalers.

A recent survey from the Private Label Manufacturers Association (PLMA) of supermarket prices on 25 commonly purchased items found that shoppers could save over 35 percent by buying the store brand rather than the national brand.

Nearly half of food and beverage category shoppers and almost 60 percent of health/beauty and household goods category shoppers buy their favored brand even when a cheaper alternative is available, with many shoppers using coupons and price promotions to justify the more expensive purchase, according to initial findings of a shopper marketing study from the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), global management consulting firm Booz & Co., and online consumer community SheSpeaks.

Two grocery industry figures have been recognized for their efforts to promote diversity in the workplace and, by extension, the wider community.

In response to intensifying demand for premium natural beef, Lincoln, Neb.-based B&R Stores Inc. — parent of Russ’s Market and Super Saver — has launched a new branded Platte River Ranch Natural Angus Beef program from Greater Omaha Packing Co., Inc., a local supplier of steaks to a number of top area restaurants.

Fairbank Farms, an Asheville, N.Y.-based ground beef supplier, has issued a voluntary recall for fresh ground beef sold in eight eastern states, after it emerged that about 545,699 pounds produced by the company between Sept. 14 and Sept. 16 might be tainted with E.coli O157:H7.