Trading Partners

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Specialty retailer Fresh Market, which builds food stores to resemble European markets, is expanding into two more states north of its traditional operating area in the Southeast. The Greensboro, N.C.-based retailer will open its first Ohio store this week at the site of a former Big Bear storefront in Columbus, followed by a new store that will open in Geneva, Ill. in early March. Fresh Market announced last week that it will enter the Indiana market on Feb. 2 with a new location in Carmel.

Amid a rising death toll from last month's Indian Ocean tsunami disaster that rose toward a quarter of a million this week, the U.S. supermarket industry continues to step up with much needed relief funds to bring relief to those stricken by the recent disaster.