Industry News
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Spartan stock rises in MI |
(Submitted by Tom Shrader, Director of Business Development, Spartan Stores, Grand Rapids, MI)
(The Grand Rapids Press) By just about any measure, 2008 was an awful year for investors. But, hey, people still gotta eat. That may explain why Byron Township-based Spartan Stores Inc. was the only major local stock not to decline in value during the year. Stock of the grocery distributor and owner of D&W Fresh Market, Family Fare and Felpausch stores, among others, edged out a slight gain, ending 2008 up 3 percent. (Click HEREfor full story.)
| | 01.06.09 |
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Corporate wellness, Safeway style |
(Submitted by Mara Flynn-Rothman, Senior Business Manager, Longs, Walnut Creek, CA)(The Associated Press) Eric Ward finally said goodbye to Baby Roo. A trim man with an easy smile, the 47-year-old Benicia resident realized he needed to make some changes in his life after his father died in his 60s of prostate cancer. “My father was of that generation where they didn’t go to see a doctor. They just lived with it, and as a result he died of it. That really was an eye-opening thing for myself,” said Ward, manager of corporate maintenance in Safeway’s office facilities management division. (Click HEREfor full story.)
| | 01.06.09 |
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Organic farms unknowingly used a synthetic fertilizer |
(Submitted by Brad Rasmussen, Business Analyst, Fred Meyer, Portland , OR : “I’m surprised it has taken this long for something like this to have been discovered. I can see it happening more now that Wal-Mart has jumped on the organics bandwagon, as they constantly pressure their suppliers to have cheaper prices. The last paragraph in the article says it all. The head of the company that did this did not get disciplined – in fact he kept his job and now is working at another company making $200,000 a year.”)
(Sacramento Bee) For up to seven years, California Liquid Fertilizer sold what seemed to be an organic farmer’s dream, brewed from fish and chicken feathers. The company’s fertilizer was effective, inexpensive and approved by organic regulators. By 2006, it held as much as a third of the market in California . But a state investigation caught the Salinas-area company spiking its product with ammonium sulfate, a synthetic fertilizer banned from organic farms. As a result, some of California ’s 2006 harvest of organic fruits, nuts and vegetables – including crops from giants like Earthbound Farm – wasn’t really organic. (Click HEREfor full story.)
| | 01.06.09 |
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Pumping up grocery sales |
(Submitted by Justin Lawson, Business Manager, Food 4 Less, Compton, CA)
(The Florida Times-Union) Nearly half of American consumers (48 percent) say they are spending savings from lower prices at the gas pump at the grocery store, according to a national survey by the retail analytics firm Precima. Groceries topped the list, ahead of putting money into savings and paying off credit cards. Of the 3,013 consumers who were asked to choose from a list of ways they use money saved on gas, 48 percent said they’re spending it on groceries, followed by saving (42 percent). Thirty percent of those surveyed said they are using the savings at the pump to pay off credit cards. Since mid-July 2008, when the price of gasoline hit a record high over $4 a gallon, prices have dropped 57 percent. (Click HERE for full story.)
| | 01.06.09 |
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Grocers launch labels to identify healthy foods |
(WSJ) Northeast grocery chains Stop & Shop and Giant Food are unveiling a product-labeling system designed to help customers find their stores' healthiest foods. The "Healthy Ideas" system will distinguish more than 3,000 of the stores' products and fresh produce with a bright green-and-blue symbol signifying they meet U.S. Department of Agriculture and other federal guidelines defining what makes a food healthy. That represents about 10% of the store's total inventory and includes items ranging from dairy products to pancake mix to frozen Brussels sprouts. (Click HERE for full story.)
| | 01.05.09 |
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