Associated Wholesale Grocers, Inc.

Marketing strategies are simultaneously becoming more high-tech and customer-focused, which might be the perfect formula to reach 21st century shoppers.

ARLINGTON, Va. -- The latest move to stop Wal-Mart from entering the banking business comes from within the supermarket industry. The National Grocers Association has submitted a statement to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), in preparation for testimony to be delivered on April 10 by Thomas F. Wenning, s.v.p. and general counsel of NGA.

Independents at the NGA Convention in Las Vegas were in luck: The meeting bristled with energy and ideas.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Price Chopper, based here, will venture beyond its core market here for the first time, with four newly converted stores in Topeka.

LAS VEGAS -- From Wal-Mart's continued onslaught to the national repercussions of the Albertsons' deal, independents in markets across the country will face critical shifts in marketplace power this year and beyond. It's time many of them start seriously considering hitching their wagons to wholesalers' banner programs, to strengthen their own positions as part of "virtual chains," said Steve Dillard, v.p. corporate sales and business development, Associated Wholesale Grocers of Kansas City (AWG), during a workshop at the National Grocers Association convention here this week.

KANSAS CITY, Kansas -- Retailer-owned wholesaler Associated Wholesale Grocers plans to install a new supply chain solution to help streamline its operations across its extensive distribution network.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- While supermarkets across the nation have recently demonstrated their community spirit by helping shoppers come to the aid of tsunami victims in South Asia and Gulf Coast residents displaced by hurricanes, Price Chopper, based here, was able to make a significant contribution in spite of its relatively small size of 43 stores, thanks to creative thinking when it comes to facilitating customer donations.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The top grocery cooperatives earned $31.4 billion in revenues during 2004, a 10 percent increase over the previous year, according to figures released yesterday by National Cooperative Bank, which provides financial services to co-operatives and other member-owned organizations throughout the United States.