UKROP'S DEBUTS JOE'S MARKET

Ukrop's Debuts Joe's Market

s Super Market opened a new store concept, Joe's Market, here last week. The small-format store, named after Ukrop's founder, Joseph Ukrop, features gourmet and natural foods, houses an in-store pharmacy that offers prescription home-delivery service, and allots 15% of the store to its health and beauty care section. "It's gotten off to a great start," John Beckner, director of pharmacy and health services, told SN.

Venture Will Aggregate Data

BOISE, Idaho -- Albertson's here is among the managing partners of a new venture that will provide aggregated, real-time pharmaceutical sales data to drug-makers via the Internet. The venture, ArcLight Systems, based in Dublin, Ohio, will offer a product called R(x)ealTime, which will stream non-patient-identifiable sales and marketing information from thousands of pharmacies nationwide, allowing manufacturers to track trends and gauge the effects of promotional activities. Other managing partners, which are contributing an undisclosed combination of capital, technology and data to the venture, include Cardinal Health, CVS, Kmart and Wal-Mart. Other founding partners, which will receive an equity stake in exchange for providing sales data, include Duane Reade, Happy Harry's, Kerr Drug, Lewis Drug and May's Drug Stores. The product has been in test for several months, and early feedback has been positive, Fritz Krieger, chief operating officer, ArcLight, told SN. It is expected to go live with a full database in the fourth quarter.

Dairy Mart Calls Off Merger

HUDSON, Ohio -- Dairy Mart here announced Monday that the company has terminated its planned merger with DM Acquisition Corp. here, which would have taken the company private. The original agreement to merge the companies, in which holders of Dairy Mart's common stock would have received $4.50 per share, payable in cash, was executed March 15. Dairy Mart said the merger was terminated because of a lack of support from financing sources. The company also said Robert Stein Jr., chairman, president, chief executive officer and president, has resigned. He is succeeded by Gregory Landry, who will be president and chief executive officer, and J. Kermit Birchfield Jr., who will be chairman.

NGA HONORS TWO

ARLINGTON, Va. -- The National Grocers Association here has given the NGA Spirit of America Award to two individuals. The latest winners are Ward Sylvester, a Piggly Wiggly operator based in Richland, N.C., who's also president of the North Carolina Food Dealers Association, and Joel Techau, chief executive officer of Techau's, Cynthiana, Ky., and chairman of the Kentucky Grocers Association. The awards were presented to Sylvester and Techau in recognition of their involvement in community, civic and government affairs and for their strong advocacy of the independent food distribution industry.