Top 13 Stories This Week: Target, Stop and Shop, King Kullen and Walmart

1. Stop & Shop and King Kullen negotiating committees reach tentative agreements...Vote scheduled for Monday.  

[Check coverage from Newsday, Westfair, Progressive Grocer Supermarket News]

Find voting times and locations here.

2.  Aldi announced plans to open 650 stores in the next five years. Wow.

3.  With Yucapia as the new owner, Fresh & Easy is already changing.

4.  Over 400,000 no, over 40 million Target customers' credit / debit cards were stolen in a data breach.  Here's how customers are reacting. Forbes calls Target's reaction to customers a PR Nightmare. More on data breaches at retailers from Time.

5.  Amazon may get their first labor union in the U.S., as a warehouse in Delaware preps for a vote that will be watched nationally. If you remember, workers in Germany have gone on strike several times this year (and will continue to in 2014), and have even gone so far as holding demonstrations at the company HQ in Seattle.

6.  Not only would a guaranteed minimum wage increase could eliminate poverty for all, a new study shows it would create jobs. 1 in 10 people working Full-Time are still poor.

7. Walmart is being fined again, this time over $4.7 million dollars, for wage theft.

8. Fairway is holding hourly prize give-a-ways until Christmas.

9.  Whole Foods is pulling Chobani yogurt and they're upping their goal from 1,000 to 1,200 stores in the US.

10.  Brooklyn's Food Pantry is struggling to help fill the gap left by SNAP cuts (food stamps).  You've heard us talk about this before, 47 million people rely on SNAP, cutting it has put us on a dangerous road. Check out why at HungerCliff.

11. Another change was made to the ACA today.

12. Our friends at The Brandworkers, are fighting with workers from Amy's Bread in Queens. Check out the workers campaign for better wages, healthcare and job security here.

13. Chart of the week: Being in a Union Raises Women's Pay 12.9 percent.

Quick Hits: Fast-Food workers at the Smithsonian have unionized. Ikea has been spying on their employees for a long time, DC passed a minimum wage increase, President Obama said Immigration Reform is at the top of the list for his presidency, and The US South is finally coming around on unions.

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Fresh Fanatic opens, City Council pushes for mandatory sick days

Dunkin' Donuts operates 60 stores in the Bronx. Image via Wikipedia

Workers at Scott's vote in the UFCW Local 700.

Clinton Hill [Brooklyn] finally gets a supermarket, the two owners of 'Fresh Fanatic' are hoping the store becomes a destination stop for shoppers looking for superb organics. But they also want to prove that "Organic doesn't mean expensive".

City Council pushes for mandatory sick days: Businesses with more than 10 employees would have to offer nine paid sick days per year; smaller firms, five paid days. Fines of $1,000 floated

A new study looks at who has the most chain stores in the Bronx, Dunkin Donuts with 60 stores.

President Obama calls health reform a "Moral Obligation"

A flea market in Brooklyn was named #1 in the United States.

More on Seattle voting down plastic bag tax.

Sam's Club offers fair trade coffee.

70% of retailers are optimistic for 2010.

And CNN looks at 10 people who got rich during the Depression, Mike Cullen [King Kullen] one of them.

Seattle says no to plastic bag tax, Boycott Whole Foods reaches 12,000 on Fbook, Wednesday Read

Image by gezellig-girl.com via Flickr

The city of Seattle voted down a referendum that would put a 20 cent tax on all paper and plastic bags at most retail stores in the city.

The Wall Street Journal looks at supermarkets failure to upgrade their (queues) line system, .

Target's "P-Fresh" (essentially moreover a Target with more floor space for groceries)is expected to be opened in Philadelphia.

Everyday there is a new story on Whole Foods customers boycotting due to John Mackey's comments, today CNN Money and the Washington Post joined in...

If you head to Facebook, you’ll find more than 12,000 people have signed up for the new Boycott Whole Foods group.

The NY Times has more on the on again off again Whole Foods wine store in NYC.

UFCW Local 700 won an election this week at Scott's.

Despite the recession, more than 30% of 137 large retailers throughout NYC have expanded, according to the Center for Urban Future released report yesterday.

Kiss [the band], sells out...again.

Pension funds in NYC

And City Council Member Kendall Stewart lies about his endorsements.