NEWS WATCH: SUPERVALU PREPARING CHICAGO-AREA SUNFLOWER STORE...SAFEWAY DISMISSED FROM CALIF. PROFIT-SHARING SUIT...BONNER FOODS ACQUIRES THREE TIDYMAN'S STORES

Supervalu Preparing Chicago-Area Sunflower Store

lic relations firm to promote the opening of its first Sunflower Market store in Chicago. The store is set for a late summer or early fall opening. The first Sunflower Market store opened earlier this year in Indianapolis. The company will reveal further details of the natural/organics store, including its location, in about a month, according to a spokeswoman for GreenHouse Communications, the Chicago-based PR firm engaged by Sunflower. Supervalu recently said it plans to add three more Sunflower stores by October. It previously unveiled plans for an opening this summer in Columbus, Ohio.

Safeway Dismissed From Calif. Profit-Sharing Suit

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Safeway here was dismissed last week from an antitrust suit that accuses the company and its competitors in Southern California of participating in an illegal profit-sharing agreement during the 141-day strike-lockout there in late 2003 and early 2004. However, Vons, Safeway's Southern California division, remains a defendant in the suit, along with Kroger Co. and its Ralphs subsidiary and Albertsons. California Attorney General Bill Lockyer originally filed suit against Safeway, Kroger and Albertsons in January 2004, nearly a year after the strike-lockout ended. Tom Dresslar, a spokesman for Lockyer, told SN the state would have preferred that Safeway remain a defendant, "but from a practical standpoint we don't believe this is a major development because if we win this case and the court says the revenue-sharing was unlawful, it simply means Safeway would not be enjoined from pursuing such an agreement in the future." A hearing for summary judgment is scheduled for Aug. 21.

Bonner Foods Acquires Three Tidyman's Stores

SPOKANE, Wash. - Independent grocer Bonner Foods, Bonners Ferry, Idaho, has acquired three former Tidyman's stores, reports said. As previously reported in SN, Tidyman's last month was shutting down its eight-store operation based here. Bonner, an independent member of Spokane-based wholesaler URM, operates stores under the Trading Company banner in Cheney, Wash., and Bonners Ferry, Idaho. It is acquiring stores in Spokane, Spokane Valley and Post Falls, Wash., according to a report in the Spokesman Review newspaper.

Kimco Realty to Buy Pan Pacific for $4 Billion

NEW HYDE PARK, N.Y. - Kimco Realty Corp. here said last week it has agreed to acquire fellow supermarket landlord Pan Pacific Retail Properties for about $4 billion, including Pan Pacific's $1.1 billion in debt. San Diego-based Pan Pacific is a real estate investment trust operating 138 neighborhood shopping centers on the West Coast, many of which are anchored by supermarkets. Kimco also is a REIT and has an interest in 1,117 shopping centers throughout North America.

Cerberus Albertsons to Cancel Web Offering

BOISE, Idaho - Albertsons LLC here said last week it plans to discontinue its online grocery operation at the end of this week so it can focus "on improving the in-store shopping experience." The shutdown will affect users of Albertsons.com in San Francisco, Sacramento, Phoenix and Dallas-Fort Worth - cities in which the Albertsons stores acquired by Cerberus Capital Management and other investors are located. The move will not affect online operations at Albertsons divisions acquired by Minneapolis-based Supervalu, including Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas, Portland, Ore., Seattle and Vancouver, Wash., Salt Lake City, Philadelphia and here. The change will not affect users of the company's Savon.com website.