- Publix Super Markets will open two new stores in Nashville, Tenn., tomorrow, doubling its presence in the market. The company currently operates 725 units in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee.
- Safeway Plc has announced that only a few hundred people in the company will get Christmas bonuses this year -- store managers and fresh food department staffers who have met specific goals. Everyone else…nothing. Betcha this will do a lot for company morale, especially when the checks get handed out to a chosen few…Whatever happened to :all for one and one for all?”
- Safeway is selling gift cards in denominations ranging from $10 to $200 for retailers ranging from Nordstrom, Starbucks, Sears, Blockbuster, Borders Books & Music, AMC Theatres, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Circuit City, Old Navy, Wherehouse Music.
The cards are available at all Safeway-owned units, including Vons, Pavilions, Randalls, Dominick's, Genuardi's, Carrs, Pak 'n Save Foods and Tom Thumb. Perfectly positioned for the short Christmas shopping season…
- North Carolina-based Lowes Food Stores has begun targeting Hispanic shoppers with a new print campaign in select markets. The campaign will be rolled out to additional markets next year.
- Greenpeace has charged that Nestlé is selling genetically modified products in China that are not labeled as such. Nestle has not yet commented on the charge, though the Shanghai Agricultural Bureau has said that the company has applied for permission to sell genetically modified food.
- USAToday reports this morning that while it is generally perceived that mom-and-pop stores are being driven out of business in this country, the opposite is true. The US Census Bureau, which defines such businesses as those without employees, reports that there were six percent more of them in 2000 than there were in 1997. As the owner of a “pop shop,” it’s nice to know that we’re being trendy. However, it’s been a long time since 2000…and we wonder what the statistics would show today.
