NEWS ROUNDUP 1994-09-12 (2)

Price/Costco Comp Sales Off 2%

stco here said comparable-warehouse sales fell 2% in the fourth quarter ended Aug. 28, which marked a slight improvement from the previous three quarters.

In the 52-week fiscal year, the club-store operator said comparable-warehouse sales declined 3%.

Price/Costco, which was created last year through the merger of Price Co., San Diego, and Costco Wholesale Corp. here, said net sales in fiscal 1994 totaled $16.1 billion, an increase of 7%. Net income was not reported.

As of Aug. 28, Price/Costco operated 221 warehouses of its own and eight warehouses in Mexico with a joint-venture partner. Expansion plans include the opening of an additional 15 warehouses in the United States and Canada, including four replacement warehouses, prior to the end of the calendar year.

NLRB Sues Wal-Mart Over Firing

WASHINGTON (FNS) -- The National Labor Relations Board has instituted a suit against Wal-Mart Stores, Bentonville, Ark., alleging the nation's largest retailer violated federal law by firing a worker at a New Hampshire store because she tried to get workers together to organize a union. The NLRB, in a lawsuit filed Aug. 26 in U.S. District Court in New Hampshire, asked that Wal-Mart be forced to reinstate the employee, Linda Regalado, who had been with the company for three years. Regalado was employed at Wal-Mart's Hinsdale, N.H., store as an invoice clerk before she was fired in April.

Robert Redbord, an NLRB supervisory attorney at the agency's New England district office, said Wal-Mart officials began their intimidation of Regalado in February when she made efforts to organize employees as members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. He said the intimidation took the form of threatening her discharge and banning her from socializing with other workers. Redbord said the store's management also promised her benefits and a better position if she stopped her union campaign. Wal-Mart attorney Robert Rhoads could not be reached for comment.

Arden Seeks to Buy Back Stock

LOS ANGELES -- Arden Group, parent company of Gelson's and Mayfair Markets here, is seeking to buy back up to 400,000 shares of its Class A common stock.

The company will pay $52 per share in cash, for a potential expenditure of $20.8 million. Arden has nearly 1.3 million Class A shares outstanding.

The offer, which commenced Aug. 17, will expire Sept. 15 unless it is extended. The offer is not conditional on any minimum number of shares being tendered, the company said.

Ernest T. Klinger, vice president and chief financial officer of the 12-store chain, said the company is seeking the shares "because we have a considerable amount of cash available following the sale of two subsidiaries in the past 12 months, and we believe it's a good investment of the company's money."

Arden sold Telautograph Corp. a year ago for approximately $45.8 million and GPS Pool Supply in June for approximately $3.4 million.

Arizona Retailer of Year Named

PHOENIX -- The Retail Grocers Association of Arizona here has named Dennis Hood, president and chief executive officer of Fry's Food Stores, retailer of the year.

Richard Barr, president of CBS Marketing here, was named supplier of the year by the association. The two executives will be honored at a dinner Sept. 30.

According to the association, Hood and Barr were chosen by their peers for exhibiting "admirable leadership, service and commitment to both the industry and the community." Hood has been president and CEO of Fry's, a division here of Kroger Co., Cincinnati, since 1981. He also is a director of the Western Association of Food Chains. Barr has been a food broker here since 1963. He is a board member of the National Food Brokers Association, Reston, Va.

The dinner is the first fund-raiser for the association's new Arizona Food and Drug Industry Education Foundation, which provides financial assistance to students interested in the food industry as a career.