Supermarket & Grocery Industry News

MAULDIN, S.C. -- The 2005 Bi-Lo Charity Classic, held June 13 the Upstate of South Carolina, was a record-breaker, according to Bi-Lo. The supermarket chain said it has raised over $4.5 million in this year's 22nd annual golf event, breaking the tournament's record of $3.7 million set last year.

WOONSOCKET, R.I. -- Retail drug giant CVS/pharmacy plans to deploy radio frequency-enabled card payment terminals across its 5,400-store chain, and has tapped one vendor as its preferred supplier.

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W. Va. -- Publix Super Markets unveiled what its president called a data synchronization solution that would expand and accelerate existing industry efforts, with retailers' needs uppermost in mind.

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W. Va. -- The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) announced this weekend that Richard H. Lenny, chairman, president and c.e.o. of the Hershey Co., has been elected as the new chairman of the GMA board of directors for a two-year term. The announcement came during GMA's Executive Conference here.

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W. Va. -- The Associate Member Council (AMC) of the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) awarded its CPG Award to the Campbell Soup Co. here during the GMA Executive Conference. The award is given annually by the AMC to companies that show superior innovation, creativity, and industry collaboration.

NEW YORK -- According to double-blind taste tests conducted in 10 locations across the country by Meyers Research Center for the Private Label Manufacturers Association (PLMA), consumers by a 51-percent-to-49-percent say the prefer the taste of private label items over their national brand counterparts in 12 popular categories.

WILMINGTON, Del. --Timed to coincide with the release of the Fantastic Four's first movie in July, a collaboration between the Produce for Better Health Foundation and Wal-Mart Stores hopes to find families flying the produce departments at over 1,700 Wal-Mart Supercenters and Neighborhood Markets on June 25 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. to "Build a Fantastic You with 5 A Day The Color Way."

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Kroger led all retail banners last year in frequency and page participation of co-marketing promotions with CPG companies, according to a new white paper from marketing information company Marx Promotion Intelligence/TNS Media Intelligence.