Supermarket & Grocery Industry News

CHESHIRE, Conn. ¿ Bozzuto's, Inc., a wholesale grocer based here with annual sales in excess of $1 billion, plans to automate its existing pricing processes using TCI Solutions' TCI HQ for centralized price management and hosting, including using the software vendor's POS eXchange to interface with its Adams Super Food Stores' new point-of-sale systems.

LAKELAND, Fla. ¿ Some sense of normalcy is slowly returning for Florida's food retailers and manufacturers as the state continues to clean up after Hurricane Charley. Retailers reported most of their stores were up and running. The state's citrus crop may have been decimated by the storm.

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.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. ¿ Wegman's Food Markets, the family-owned 66-store supermarket chain that's a pioneer in the movement toward data synchronization, recognized business integration provider Sterling Commerce for its role in synchronizing item data with more than 100 of the retailer's suppliers.

MINNEAPOLIS - Supervalu, Inc. yesterday confirmed that it will continue to operate its Tacoma, Wash. distribution facility to support its strong base of independent retailers and extensive military business served by the Tacoma location.

WASHINGTON ¿ The Grocery Manufacturers of America (GMA) yesterday said Patrick Lehman has joined the trade group as its new director of federal affairs. Lehman will focus on a variety of issues, including food safety, appropriations, the security of the food supply, commodity programs, and other areas regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. He succeeds Dave Stafford, who left GMA to become a writer at MSNBC.

SALISBURY, N.C. - Food Lion Supermarkets has signed a partnership agreement with Chicago-based CoolSavings, Inc., an online direct marketing and media company, to join the latter's Grocery Solutions Network, an Internet-based distribution network for printable and electronic coupons, as well as requested product samples.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. ¿ The WorldWide Retail Exchange (WWRE), an Internet-based business-to-business exchange for retailers and suppliers, yesterday launched its data quality program in partnership with ACNielsen, a provider of marketing information and data quality/alignment services, and UDEX, a provider of product data cleansing and data quality services.