PDQUICK, Camarillo, Calif., has been sued by a woman who said she was sexually assaulted by a company deliveryman who was on parole for a violent felony conviction, reports said. The woman charged that PDQuick, an on-line convience store featuring home delivery, did not thoroughly check the criminal record of the former employee, who was being held in Los Angeles County jail last week pending arraignment on charges he attacked three Pasadena, Calif.-area women in their homes during October. In a statement, PDQuick said its hiring practices were in compliance with legal requirements and that "every effort is made to ensure that we employ the highest caliber employees." The deliveryman with the criminal record worked for PDQuick for two weeks and was fired, the company added.
xpectations [for next year] make me think they are cleaning things up for a sale." However, Jonathan Ziegler, San Francisco-based managing director for Deutsche Banc/Alex. Brown, told SN, "The company needs capital, but would be better off going it alone. The culture of the company might be lost of it were swallowed up by a Kroger."
JAX MARKETS, Anaheim, Calif., said Bill MacAloney, Jax chairman and chief executive officer, has been elected to the city council of Villa Park in Orange County, Calif. Running for one of two open council seats on Nov. 7, MacAloney came in second in a field of five with 1,334 votes. He will be sworn in Nov. 28 for a four-year term. MacAloney is a director of Food Marketing Institute and the Western Association of Food Chains and a past chairman of Certified Grocers of California (now Unified Western Grocers), Los Angeles.
NATIONAL GROCERS ASSOCIATION, Reston, Va., said what retailers and wholesalers can do to compete with supercenters will be the primary focus of discussion at its annual convention and concept show Jan. 29-Feb. 1 in Dallas. According to Thomas K. Zaucha, president and chief executive officer of NGA, "Never before has the viability of the independent retailer and wholesaler been more challenged."
