Newswatch 2009-09-07

GUILTY PLEAS IN PENN TRAFFIC CASE

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Two former officers of Penn Traffic Co. here have pleaded guilty to filing false and misleading financial records. Leslie Knox, who served as senior vice president of merchandising, and Linda Jones, Penn Traffic's former vice president of non-perishable merchandising, face up to 20 years in prison and fines totaling more than $5 million for their roles in a scheme to falsely report vendor allowances and other payments that helped the retailer meet financial goals between 2002 and 2005. Both Knox and Jones were dismissed by Penn Traffic in 2006. Federal authorities brought charges against them in 2007.

TEA PARTY GROUP SUPPORTS MACKEY

ST. LOUIS — The Nationwide Tea Party Coalition last week staged a series of “buycott” events designed to support Whole Foods Market and its chairman and chief executive officer, John Mackey, after the libertarian came under fire for his criticism of health care reform. Some supporters of health care reform have pledged to boycott Whole Foods after Mackey's opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal earlier this month. The first two “buycott” events took place at Whole Foods locations here and in Dallas. Additional events in other cities are expected to follow. “Most tea party supporters are not regular customers of Whole Foods, and we want to show our support for Mr. Mackey's championship of free market health care reforms,” said Dana Loesch of the St. Louis Tea Party.

STOP & SHOP TO CLOSE 43 STARBUCKS

QUINCY, Mass. — Stop & Shop and Giant-Landover are planning to close 43 Starbucks in-store coffee kiosks because they were underperforming, according to local reports. The locations include 26 Stop & Shops and 17 Giants, the Boston Patriot-Ledger reported, noting that the chains will continue to operate 56 Starbucks locations. Another five Starbucks are scheduled to open in the two chains by the end of the year.

DELHAIZE COMPLETES SALE TO REWE

BRUSSELS — Delhaize Group here said last week that it has completed the sale of its four stores operated in Germany to the German retail group Rewe. That deal was announced in July. Delhaize had operated in Germany since 2003 and ran a small operating loss there.

SUPER 88 DEAL HITS SNAG: REPORT

BOSTON — A reported deal to sell the Asian supermarket chain Super 88 here to a New York company may be held up by two separate buyers who said they'd already made deals to buy individual stores, reports said last week. According to the Boston Globe, two potential buyers have asked a county court judge to halt the sale of Super 88 to Hong Kong Supermarkets of New York. Hong Kong Supermarkets has already posted signs in three Super 88 locations announcing it was soon to take over, the Globe report said.

UNION GROUP CHALLENGES WAL-MART

WASHINGTON — The United Food and Commercial Workers union, along with other coalition partners here last week announced a campaign challenging Wal-Mart Stores to change its corporate practices for the sake of the economy and the communities in which it operates. The “American Values Agenda” calls for the Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer to promote worker rights; improve job training, workplace fairness and corporate responsibility; and develop more local sourcing.