Perimeter

FRANKLIN, Tenn. - North American consumers transacted nearly $128 billion in sales using self-checkout lanes, ticketing kiosks, and other self-service machines in 2003 -- but for some retailers, high-touch is still the way to go.

CAMDEN, N.J. - The Campbell Soup Co. here has joined forces with Scholastic and NBC's "American Dreams" series for a novel promotion that will tie in an essay contest sponsored by Campbell's with a storyline on the show.

ST. LOUIS, Mo. - On the heels of last week's unveiling of its first Collierville, Tenn. store built from the ground up, Schnuck Markets, Inc. is aggressively embarking on Phase II of its Mid-South expansion plans.

BELLEVUE, Wash. and SAN MATEO, Calif. - drugstore.com, inc., an online provider of health, beauty, vision, and pharmacy products, and WageWorks, Inc., a provider of consumer-friendly employee spending accounts for health care and dependent care, have joined to enable automatic verification of flexible spending account (FSA)-eligible purchases made using the WageWorks Health Care Card at the drugstore.com online store.

LAKEVILLE, Minn. - Grist Mill Co., based here, is voluntarily recalling Fruit & Nut Trail Mix Granola Bars and Muesli Cereals, sold under retailer brand names, because they are potentially contaminated with salmonella.

WASHINGTON - Retail prices for food at the supermarket dropped 2.5 percent in the second quarter of 2004, according to the latest American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) market basket survey. The informal survey on the total cost of 16 basic grocery items showed a decrease of 99 cents from the 2004 first-quarter survey.

The c-store segment continues to improve its portable fresh food lineup -- and reputation -- and supermarkets can ill afford to ignore their cross-channel competitors' bid to boost business from the inside out.

Sales and merchandising may center on the winter holidays, but the time is always right for an exciting hors d'oeuvres assortment.