Nonfoods

CLEVELAND -- Supermarket competitors Giant Eagle and Tops Friendly Markets launched a price war this week, but many customers failed to notice, according to a story in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

ST. LOUIS -- Employees represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 655 from Schnuck Markets, Shop n' Save, and Dierbergs today are expected to announce whether they'll accept a tentative contract with the chains, according to a report that aired on NewsChannel 5 KSDK-TV.

CHICAGO - Food makers have an opportunity to fatten up their profits by offering leaner products to capitalize on the growing market for healthier diets, according to a new Merrill Lynch investment analysis.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. - Sears Grand, a new freestanding supercenter-type format being tested by Sears, Roebuck and Co., will sell convenience groceries, including milk, frozen pizza, canned goods, pet food and laundry detergent, along with items found in a conventional Sears department store.

HOMER, Alaska - In an effort to appease local government officials, Fred Meyer plans on building a 45,000-square-foot store here that will be limited to groceries and liquor.

AMSTERDAM -- Ahold will publish its restated 2002 annual figures next week after it meets the Sept. 30 deadline of delivering its audited accounts to its syndicate of banks, Dow Jones reports.

ST. LOUIS - Negotiators for the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 655 and the three largest supermarket chains in the St. Louis area have reached a tentative agreement on a four-year contract, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. - Sales of private label consumer packaged goods (CPG) are growing much faster than branded products, according to the U.S. Trends in Private Label report released on Thursday by ACNielsen U.S., an operating unit of ACNielsen, a VNU business.