Sampling

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Regional grocery and general merchandise retailer Meijer will be giving away thousands of diabetes education kits this weekend, as the company kicks off a month-long focus on the chronic disease that affects at least 17 million Americans.

A retail guru urges retailers to focus inward to make their greatest gains.

YONKERS, N.Y. - To celebrate the one-year anniversary of the Broadway musical "Wicked," retailer Stew Leonard's will hold the first annual "Wicked" Day Block Party on Saturday, Oct. 30 from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. outside the Gershwin Theatre at 222 West 51st Street, between Broadway and Eighth Ave. in New York City.

CARLISLE, Pa. - Shoppers at 17 Giant Food Stores in the Harrisburg, Pa. area will be eligible for rebates on selected healthier foods and other products bought between Oct. 24 and Dec. 4. Additionally, members of the HealthAmerica and HealthAssurance health insurance plans will receive a gift and be eligible for prize drawings when they buy rebate-eligible products.

PITTSBURGH - Giant Eagle customer and Fresh Express salad enthusiast Janet Devinney was selected as the lucky winner of a 2005 Chrysler PT Cruiser convertible in a Cruise Through Summer promotion that proved to be an ideal way to drive awareness and trial purchases of new Fresh Express fresh fruit products.

WILMINGTON, Del. - Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the rest of the Peanuts gang are joining forces with the world's biggest retailer this Halloween season to encourage children to treat themselves to good health by eating a colorful variety of at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables every day.

STILLWATER, Minn. - Supervalu retailer Cub Foods here said it will ramp up its in-store food demonstration capabilities for its East Region in concert with Mass Connections, a Cerritos, Calif.-based retail marketing and consumer-related promotions firm.

OAKLAND, Calif. - TransFair USA, an independent, third-party certifier of Fair Trade products, Friday kicked off its first annual Fair Trade Month celebration, a month-long event that includes participation by hundreds of supermarkets.