Produce / Floral

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.

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.

QUINCY, Mass. -- As the July 4 three-day weekend approaches, Stop & Shop Supermarkets said it is expecting huge demand for barbeque-related items as grills are fired up across the Northeast.

LANDOVER, Md. -- Giant Food LLC, this morning christened a new full-service food and pharmacy combination store at the historic Tivoli Theatre site at 1345 Park Road, N.W. in Washington, D.C.

NEW YORK -- Such value-added products as mixed-vegetable side dishes, frozen fruit salads, and packaged ethnic rice dishes are providing retailers with the biggest growth opportunities in the $45.6 billion market for private label foods and beverages, according to "The U.S. Market for Private Label Foods and Beverages," a new report from market research publisher Packaged Facts.

WILMINGTON, Del. --Timed to coincide with the release of the Fantastic Four's first movie in July, a collaboration between the Produce for Better Health Foundation and Wal-Mart Stores hopes to find families flying the produce departments at over 1,700 Wal-Mart Supercenters and Neighborhood Markets on June 25 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. to "Build a Fantastic You with 5 A Day The Color Way."

GARDINER, Maine -- Associated Grocers of Maine, the biggest private employer here, said last week that it would proceed with a $5 million expansion of its warehouse, according to published reports.

Newark, Del. -- The Produce Marketing Association has called on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to delay by one year its nutrition value changes for the voluntary produce nutrition labeling program, to provide the industry more time to conduct its own research.