NEWS WATCH: EAGLE EXTENDS BID DEADLINE, CLOSES FOUR STORES...FARMED SALMON PCB LEVELS NOT SAFE, GROUP CLAIMS...SHAW'S OPENS REPLACEMENT STORE IN DORCHESTER

EAGLE EXTENDS BID DEADLINE, CLOSES FOUR STORES

d it will extend the deadline to Friday for submitting bids for the company's stores. A company spokeswoman told SN the bids will be opened at an Aug. 20 auction in the Chicago offices of the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, with the final disposition of the stores to be announced at a hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Chicago on Sept. 5. Eagle also said it will close four stores it characterized as underperforming: One, in Princeton, Ill., will close Aug. 26; the other three, all in Davenport, Iowa, are scheduled to go dark Sept. 2. As previously reported, Eagle, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April, has said it is seeking to sell "substantially all" of its operating assets.

FARMED SALMON PCB LEVELS NOT SAFE, GROUP CLAIMS

WASHINGTON -- Farmed salmon, the third-biggest-selling seafood item behind canned tuna and shrimp, was found to have 16 times the level of cancer-causing polychlorinated biphenyls than its natural counterpart, according to a study released by the Environmental Working Group. The organization purchased farmed salmon filets from 10 grocery stores on the West Coast, and it found that seven contained "high levels" of PCBs. Government officials said the levels do not pass thresholds set by at least one regulating agency. However, the officials acknowledged that the standards are decades old, and could be outdated.

SHAW'S OPENS REPLACEMENT STORE IN DORCHESTER

WEST BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- Shaw's here said it has opened a 44,000-square-foot store in a former warehouse in Dorchester, Mass., after a fight over replacing a Star Market the company had closed the previous evening. Paul Gannon, Shaw's president and chief executive officer, said, "This new store, in such an ethnically and culturally diverse community, represents the type of progress that can be attained when companies, public officials, communities and neighborhood groups work together toward a common goal." However, according to published reports, Shaw's and the Stop & Shop Supermarket Co., Quincy, Mass., an Ahold operating company, had competed fiercely for the right to build a store on the Dorchester site, and when Shaw's won approval to build there, Stop & Shop declined to sell its rival several pieces adjoining the parcels of land it had acquired, although Stop & Shop has yet to develop them. Representatives of Shaw's and Stop & Shop were not available for comment.

WAL-MART APPLIES FOR FIRST CHICAGO LOCATION

BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores here said it has filed an application with Chicago to build its first store in the city. Scheduled to open by spring 2005, the 150,000-square-foot unit would be a discount store, not a supercenter. The company said it currently has 48 discount stores and Sam's Clubs in the Chicago metro area.

COURT SEIZES ASSETS OF AHOLD'S ARGENTINE UNIT

ZAANDAM, Netherlands -- Ahold here said last week that an Argentine court has sized the assets of Disco, its Argentine unit. The reports noted that an Ahold spokeswoman said all Disco shares have been seized on behalf of a group of depositors in the defaulted Argentine bank owned by Velox Group, Ahold's former partner. The spokeswoman said Ahold is currently in talks with the judge in the case, and expects to have the seizure lifted "in a matter of days," according to the reports.