Perimeter

CHICAGO -- In the same month that Interstate Bakeries Corp.'s Wonder brand has launched its White Bread Fans 100% Whole Grain bread, Sara Lee, based here, yesterday introduced nationwide a similar concept: Soft & Smooth Made With Whole Grain White Bread -- a product that the company describes as looking, smelling, and feeling like white bread, but providing a "good source of whole grains." The idea behind both new breads is to allow consumers who love white bread, particularly kids, to receive the health benefits of whole grains.

DAYVILLE, Conn. -- Albert's Organics, Inc., a subsidiary of natural foods and supplements distributor United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI) has completed the acquisition of Roots & Fruits Cooperative, a Minnesota-based organic wholesale distributor of fresh produce and other perishables.

SURPRISE, Ariz. -- A mentally unstable man arrested earlier this week here for the possession of three pipe bombs told police he tampered with baby food products and returned them to local retailers, alarming area consumers and retailers in the area in what might turn out to have been a costly hoax.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Consumer packaged goods manufacturers are responding in a major way to an increasingly obese and more health-conscious nation, according to new survey data released here by the Grocery Manufacturers Association.

NEW YORK -- This is a tough town for c-store retailers, as Dallas-based 7-Eleven Inc. learned a long time ago. The company left the Manhattan market in 1982 and abandoned plans for a Times Square location in 2002. But now, after testing an urban format in Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago, president and CEO Jim Keyes thinks his company has it right, and opened a new store in Manhattan yesterday.

REEDLEY, Calif. -- A&P, Safeway/Vons, Food City, Cub Foods, Hannaford; and Kroger and several of its subsidiaries are participating in a unique promotion from the California Tree Fruit Agreement here and Fresh Express, in which shoppers can download music from iTunes Music Store for free.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- A 64,000-square-foot, 28-year-old Wegmans on Dick Road store in Depew, N.Y. closed Saturday evening so it could be torn down to make way for a bigger, better version.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- It's a good thing for Wal-Mart that people have to eat. The latest figures from ACNielsen's Wal-Mart Channel Service for the 52-weeks ended May 14, show that growth in food and beverage sales more than offset an actual decline in sales of UPC-coded general merchandise at Wal-Mart supercenters and discount stores over the past year.