Nonfoods

Spartan Stores to Purchase D&W Food Centers
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Let the 2006 mergers begin. Spartan Stores, Inc. here said it plans to acquire D&W Food Centers, Inc., also based here, in a deal that could add $200 million a year to Spartan's sales revenue.
British Shoppers Opting for Healthier Food: Trade Survey
LONDON -- It's not just U.S. supermarkets that are being affected by growing waistlines and consumers' desires to eat healthier. Sales of popular brands of traditional snack foods and sweets in Britain are suffering from a slump, according to a new study by The Grocer, a British trade publication, based on ACNielsen sales data.

AG New England's Retail Subsidiary Unveils Upscale Banner

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- AG Supermarkets, Inc., the retail subsidiary of Associated Grocers of New England here, said Friday it has opened a new upscale Harvest Market format in Hollis, N.H.
Acculturated Hispanics Eat More Like Other Americans: Study

PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y. -- Note to grocers courting Hispanics: Try to gauge how long your target market's been absorbing American culture. As they acculturate, Hispanics living in the United States develop progressively more Americanized eating habits, a study by the NPD Group here found.
IGA to Launch 80th Anniversary Marketing Program

CHICAGO -- Ready to celebrate its 80 years of business in style, IGA here said yesterday it has created an anniversary-themed marketing program, which officially begins in February of 2006.
C&S Gives More Than 5,000 Holiday Turkeys

KEENE, N.H. -- C&S Wholesale Grocers and its associates have joined with almost two dozen statewide and regional food banks to donate turkeys, providing thousands of needy families with holiday meal.
Safeway to Invest $1.6 Billion in Growth Next Year

PLEASANTON, Calif. -- Safeway Inc. plans make approximately $1.6 billion in cash capital expenditures in 2006, to complete 20-25 new stores and remodel approximately 280 stores, the company said during its investor conference yesterday.
FreshDirect Rolls Out Healthier Winter Meals

NEW YORK -- FreshDirect, the online fresh food manufacturing and delivery service, yesterday launched FreshDining and Stir-Fry Kits, created to provide customers with more healthful quick meal solutions.
MOM's Thinking Outside the Bag

ROCKVILLE, Md.-- MOM's -- short for My Organic Market -- a Washington, D.C.-area retail grocer of fresh organic and pre-packaged foods, said yesterday that it had launched its "Think Outside the Bag" initiative to reduce the grocery bags it uses by half.
GMA E.V.P. Mark Baum Moving to Global Management Consulting Firm

WASHINGTON -- The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) here said yesterday that e.v.p. Mark Baum will resign from the trade association to join consulting firm DiamondCluster International as partner in January 2006.

Spartan Stores to Purchase D&amp;W Food Centers

British Shoppers Opting for Healthier Food: Trade Survey

AG New England's Retail Subsidiary Unveils Upscale Banner

Acculturated Hispanics Eat More Like Other Americans: Study

IGA to Launch 80th Anniversary Marketing Program

C&amp;S Gives More Than 5,000 Holiday Turkeys

Safeway to Invest $1.6 Billion in Growth Next Year

FreshDirect Rolls Out Healthier Winter Meals

MOM's Thinking Outside the Bag

GMA E.V.P. Mark Baum Moving to Global Management Consulting Firm

Spartan Stores to Purchase D&W Food Centers

C&S Gives More Than 5,000 Holiday Turkeys