Market Trends

ATLANTA - Self-scan checkouts are being billed as a panacea for supermarkets, discounters, and other retailers, but don't expect to see them in Target Stores any time soon.

LAS VEGAS - Vons, a Safeway company, will open a combined supermarket fuel station and convenience store in Las Vegas on June 26. This fuel station is Vons' fourth foray into the fuel-service market.

TORONTO - In a move which will expand its manufacturing and marketing capabilities into Mexico, soft drink maker Cott Corporation today announced it is acquiring a 90 percent stake in a new venture with Mexican bottler Embotelladora de Puebla, S.A. de C.V. (EPSA).

PARSIPPANY, N.J. - Officials with Marks & Spencer, the British parent of Kings Super Markets, on Wednesday extended an exclusivity agreement with Gristede's Foods Inc..

WASHINGTON, DC - The Food Marketing Institute has entered a partnership with the U.S. Department of Labor to educate teenagers and their parents about the laws governing the jobs and hours teens can work, and how to prevent injuries.

PITTSBURGH - This month Heinz is introducing to consumers the first nationally branded organic ketchup in supermarket and organic food stores nationwide.

MILAN, Ill. - Eagle Food Centers said at its annual meeting that a proposal to sell the company has been defeated by shareholders.

PARSIPPANY, N.J. - Gristedes Foods Inc. has agreed to pay $155 million to buy the upscale King Super Markets chain from its British parent company, Marks & Spencer, New Jersey's Star-Ledger reports.