Research & Analysis

AMES, Iowa - Consumers are supportive of locally grown food and the farmers who grow it, according to a study conducted by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University.

GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. - SimonDelivers.com, a Minnesota-based home-grocery delivery service, has been named to the "Best of the Web: The Top 50 Retailing Web Sites" poll by national trade publication Internet Retailer.

AMSTERDAM -- Ahold, which is selling assets to reduce its debt, has sold the Santa Isabel supermarkets in Peru to Grupo Interbank and a group of investors headed by Nexus Group for an undisclosed sum, according to Reuters.

LONDON -- The U.K. government announced today that the country's three largest supermarket chains had agreed not to bid for Safeway, allowing their smaller rival, William Morrison, to make a new offer later in the month, Reuters reports. Morrison has 21 days to bid again for Safeway.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich -- Spartan Stores, Inc. has entered into a supply agreement with Detroit-based Sherwood Food Distributors, the nation's largest independent meat distributor. Sherwood serves almost half of the United States from distribution centers in Detroit, Cleveland, and Cincinnati.

WASHINGTON - Customs agents along U.S. borders have become food inspectors to monitor food imports more closely for signs of bioterrorism, federal officials announced Wednesday, according to AP.

NATICK, Mass. - BJ's Wholesale Club Inc.'s November same-store sales went up 8.4 percent, less than the 9.7 percent growth analysts had predicted, as strong sales in the first half of the month stalled in the second half, according to Dow Jones Business News.

LEAWOOD, Kan. and LONDON - e-pay, a subsidiary of Euronet Worldwide, has entered into an electronic top-up services (e-top-up) agreement with Sainsbury's, the United Kingdom's third-largest supermarket chain. e-pay now provides this service to all five major U.K. food retailers.