Newswatch 2009-06-01 (2)

FOOD LION LAUNCHES NEW AD CAMPAIGN

SALISBURY, N.C. — Food Lion last week launched a new advertising campaign highlighting its long-standing attributes of everyday low price and convenience. The “Great Price Hunters” ads use a hunting analogy to remind shoppers that they do not have to hunt from store to store for prices. Food Lion partnered with its Atlanta-based advertising agency, Ames Scullin O'Haire, on the campaign, which also includes print, radio, online and outdoor components.

MARKET STREET DEBUTS IN-STORE GAME

FRISCO, Texas — Market Street, the six-store chain operated by United Supermarkets here, has launched an in-store game with $3 million in prizes. The “Road to Riches” game provides shoppers with a special tag on every receipt which can be collected for the opportunity to win prizes including a $1 million grand prize. Other prizes include a vintage car, a 2009 Ford Escape hybrid, free groceries for a year, and a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. The contest, which also includes instant wins and an Internet component, runs through Aug. 13 at all Market Street stores in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

LOBLAW RESETS GROCERY ASSORTMENTS

TORONTO — Loblaw here has been closing various stores for 24 hours so as to re-set grocery aisles, according to a published report last week. The resets affect layouts and product adjacencies, and include new cut-ins for items like coffee, pasta and salad dressings. The renovated stores have taken space from “club-pack” items and general merchandise, according to a research note from Perry Caicco, an analyst for CIBC World Markets. Separately, Frank Rocchetti, formerly chief merchandising officer, left Loblaw last week, the Wall Street Journal reported. Dalton Philips, chief operating officer, will assume Rocchetti's responsibilities on a permanent basis, the newspaper said.

WAL-MART SETTLES ARIZ. PRICING SUIT

PHOENIX — Wal-Mart Stores has agreed to establish a “rigorous” price inspection and monitoring system in Arizona to ensure the state's consumers have access to accurate and clearly posted prices, Terry Goddard, the state's attorney general, said after the company settled a lawsuit over 526 failed pricing inspections conducted by the Arizona Department of Weights and Measures between 2001 and 2006. Under the settlement, Wal-Mart agreed to appoint an independent monitoring company to design and conduct price-accuracy and price-posting inspections at 40 of its 92 Arizona stores each year for three years. The AG also said Wal-Mart has agreed to a $1 million financial settlement, with the money going toward the cost of the monitoring program as well as consumer education and fraud prevention.

WAKEFERN POSTS SALES GAINS FOR '08

KEASBY, N.J. — Retail sales at Wakefern Food Corp. here were up 7.5%, to $10.6 billion, for the most recent fiscal year, the company said following the cooperative wholesaler's annual meeting. The company reported $8.4 billion in warehouse sales for the year, which ended in September. Dean Janeway, president and chief operating officer, noted that growth at Wakefern's wholesale initiative — in which it is offering products to companies outside the co-op — has exceeded expectations and is “on track to double its volume from the prior year.” Also, Wakefern elected to its board Richard McMenamin, a Wakefern member since 1995 and owner of the two-store McMenamin Family ShopRites in the Philadelphia area.