New Product Launches

Backed by $320 million in box office sales and a legion of worldwide fans, just putting "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" into mass release this spring on DVD and VHS would be enough to create a major retail event.

QUINCY, and RANDOLPH, Mass. - The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company and Dunkin' Donuts today announced a strategic alliance in which Dunkin' Donuts will open full-service stores in Stop & Shop locations throughout Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island.

LAKELAND, Fla. - Publix Super Markets has opened two new convenience stores, branded as "Pix," in Florida, The Lakeland Ledger reports.

ZAANDAM, The Netherlands - Ahold today announced the opening of a new, extra-large store format in the Dutch market known as Albert Heijn XL.

CHICAGO - Susan D. Wellington, head of Gatorade's U.S. operations, is leaving just six months after PepsiCo Inc. acquired the brand's owner, Quaker Oats Co., the Chicago Tribune reports.

WASHINGTON - Children still are choking to death from Asian-made jelly candies despite repeated recalls, a ban on imports and a move by major grocery chains to pull the dangerous sweets off the shelves, The Associated Press reports.

TORONTO, Ontario - Systech Retail Systems Inc., a provider of technology solutions for retail, announced that it has received orders from Food Lion, LLC, for over 4,000 RTI SK-7510 Programmable ScreenKey Systems for delivery in 2002.

WASHINGTON - Plantings of genetically engineered crops across the globe increased nearly 20 percent last year despite resistance of consumers in Europe and elsewhere, according to the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications, The Associated Press reports.