Store Systems

WASHINGTON - Food retailers and wholesalers report that shoplifting, employee theft, and check fraud remain the greatest sources of annual losses, according to a report released today by the Food Marketing Institute.

BOGOTA, Colombia - Carulla Vivero S.A., Colombia's second-biggest retailer, has chosen Toronto-based brand strategy and design consultancy Watt International, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Envoy Communications Group, to lead the repositioning and design of the company's 83 Carulla stores. Carulla Vivero operates a chain of 133 supermarkets, hypermarkets, and discount stores throughout Colombia.

MILWAUKEE ¿ No, consumers are not flipping Pick 'n Save the bird -- they're paying for goods by using biometric technology that went live today in a one-store pilot test of the technology, provided by San Francisco-based Pay By Touch.

SEATTLE - As it did recently in Manhattan, Whole Foods Market will serve as an anchor for a major mixed-use development project, 2200 Westlake, in the South Lake Union neighborhood in Seattle.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Grocer and wholesaler Spartan Stores, Inc., based here, wants to sell gas and will put convenience stores and pumps at an unspecified number of its 54 Family Fare Supermarkets and Glen's Markets, the company said last week.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Sorry, Charley, but Sunshine State supermarkets were prepared to take whatever you could dish out on Friday.

COLTON, Calif. - Aggressive marketing tactics in the face of tough competition netted Stater Bros. substantial gains in its third-quarter and year-to-date periods, the chain said yesterday.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas - The H.E. Butt Grocery Co., headquartered here, has teamed up with the Texas Lottery Commission, which is in the process of installing self-service touchscreen lottery dispensers at about approximately 200 of the supermarket chain's stores across Texas.