Local

With several development projects across the country stalled or delayed until the economy turns a corner, a Pennsylvania retail development dubbed Exeter Commons is bucking the trend, with 94 percent of its space pre-leased as a late-summer opening approaches.

Bruno's Supermarkets, LLC said last week that after an auction of its assets, Southern Family Markets Acquisitions II, LLC, an affiliate of C&S Wholesale Grocers, Inc., purchased 31 store locations on a "going concern" basis and bought the other 25 stores on a liquidating basis. Liquidator Hilco Merchant Resources was a joint bidder on the sale.The deal must be approved in a court hearing scheduled for today. The deal is worth $45.8 million.

Concerns about the recent hybrid influenza outbreak affecting countries around the globe prompted the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) to temporarily pull the plug on its Future Connect and MARKETECHNICS events scheduled to take place next week, May 6 through May 8, at the Dallas Convention Center and the Dallas Hyatt Regency.

Safeway employees belonging to the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1439 ratified by a wide margin the tentative agreement reached between the grocer and the union, The Pleasanton, Calif.-based grocer said yesterday.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market plans to enter Stockton, Calif., this summer with a 14,000-square-foot store in University Park -- the first of several it may build in the area.

HEB is rewarding Houston commuters who go green by offering discounts on H-E-B groceries when they choose more earth-friendly commuting methods such as carpooling, vanpooling, biking, walking, telecommuting or taking public transportation.

Nash Finch Co. donated two truckloads -- or more than 72,000 bottles -- of its private brand Our Family water to the countless volunteers working in Fargo, N.D., and Moorhead, Minn. on sandbagging efforts to stave off Red River flooding.

New York Gov. David Paterson's plan to raise $18 million in revenue from fees on stores that sell cigarettes came under attack earlier this week from both Democrats and Republicans, the New York Daily News reported.