Market Trends

This month, Organic Valley is inviting consumers to visit OrganicRising.com and enter a contest to win prizes that the company hopes will help them keep their New Year’s resolutions to eat better.

Putting an end to weeks of speculation in the local and trade press as to its interest in the bankrupt Penn Traffic Co.’s stores, Tops Markets, LLC said last week that a bid to acquire a majority of its fellow Northeast grocer’s assets, including its 79 supermarkets, has been accepted by the Syracuse, N.Y.-based company and recommended to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for approval.

Brian Strickland, divisional VP of market strategy and business development research at extreme value retailer Family Dollar will discuss market basket analytics during a session this morning at the National Retail Federation’s 2010 Conference & Expo in New York City.

Supervalu has named veteran CPG sales and marketing executive Steve Jungmann its new EVP of merchandising.

Albertson’s, LLC, which according to published reports is closing eight underperforming Florida stores, has sold its Plant City, Fla., distribution center to Gordon Food Service (GFS). The 1-million-square-foot DC occupies a 158-acre site in Hillsborough County, off Interstate 4 between Tampa and Orlando, Fla.

Regional independent HEB said this week it’s strengthening its support of the Texas communities it serves by building new stores and creating new job opportunities, lowering prices on a wide range of items, and continuing its community involvement.

“Guiding Stars,” the pioneering storewide nutrition navigation system originally introduced at Delhaize banner Hannaford Supermarkets in 2006, has taken the wraps of its revamped website, www.guidingstars.com.

According to the “7th annual FSI Distribution Trends Report,” last year free-standing insert (FSI) coupons saw their greatest activity in 10 years, with more than 272 billion coupons dropped — an 8 percent increase over last year.