Monday Morning One-Liners

Trader Joe's recalls A LOT of peanut butter- FDA finds it was the cause of some major salmonella outbreaks throughout the nation.

Roughly 70% of the 1.2 million workers in agriculture are undocumented.  Farmers are calling for immigration reform, blaming laws on billion dollar losses.

Supermarket News has a few articles on food retailers and politics.  Watch out- The National Grocers Association has created a super PAC, backing retailer friendly candidates. 

News of Walmart being shut out in NYC has gotten to India, now they're wondering if they should roll out the red carpet for the small business killing retail giant.  Read more @ The Daily News.

Made in Canada Problem: Canadian laws present barriers to enforcing basic rights to decent work and allow temporary migrant workers to be exploited, says a new report published by the Metcalf Foundation

The women of Walmart (over 1 million who are attempting to sue the company for discrimination), have won the right to proceed with a discrimination suit.

Related articles

• Trader Joe's Recalls Peanut Butter For Possible Salmonella Contamination

Tuesday Afternoon One Liners: New Poll Shows Americans Oppose Weakening Bargaining Rights

A NYTimes & CBS Poll  reveals that a majority of Americans oppose weakening of collective bargaining rights, backing Public Sector Unions.  More @ AFL-CIO.

A&P Stock hits another new low, under $0.86.

Target projects sales will hit over $100 billion on Canada stores.  Meanwhile their sales are up 3%.

Gristede's goes wireless.

Poll: Walmart's U.S. Sales, Long Road to Recovery.

"I think Wal-Mart has lost their way," said Howard Davidowitz, chairman of Davidowitz & Associates Inc., a retail consulting and investment banking firm in New York. "Wal-Mart focused on this fancy remodeling program and fancy apparel, and it's totally off track with their whole business." 

Walmart is countering Unions with a "Pro-Labor" PR Blitz

In San Diego, Fresh & Easy stores are being picketed.

Farmworkers demand better pay from Trader Joe's,  The Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a Florida-based workers' rights group is only asking for a 0.35 cent pay raise for every 32 pound bucket of tomatoes they pick, and Trader Joe's (everyone's favorite friendly grocer) refuses. Read more: @ DNAinfo

More @ Gothamist.

Progressive Grocer covers the protest at the Upper West Side Trader Joe's.

Disney workers approved their union contract with UFCW.

#Wisconsin:
UFCW Member Trish Hawkins "We Are Wisconsin!"

U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis: "Collective Bargaining is the cornerstone of democracy, part of the solution."

NBA Union backs Wisconsin workers.

Friday Morning One Liners: Pathmark, Target & Trader Joe's

Image via Wikipedia

SN: Pathmark Dominates A&P's Store Closure List

A&P on Thursday made another senior level executive appointment from OfficeMax, naming Carter Knox senior vice president of human resources and communications.  Here is their official statement.

More @ NorthJersey.com

Poughkeepsie Journal: A&P Sues Stop & Shop
A&P's parent company, Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. Inc., is flinging charges that Stop & Shop lies to consumers about having lower prices than A&P. "Stop & Shop is presently engaged in an advertising campaign, involving various of its stores … in which Stop & Shop falsely claims that customers can 'save more every time you shop' at Stop & Shop," lawyers for A&P wrote in the lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court here

A difficult situation for Stop and Shop as they opted out of a project in Massachusetts:
"The town received a letter from them on July 26," Town Planner Kathy Joubert said yesterday. "It does not say why - it simply states they're no longer pursuing building a store at the 77 Main St. address."
The announcement comes as an abrupt end to a five-year drama that saw Stop & Shop go to state Land Court to fight a 2006 Planning Board decision to deny the company's site plan proposal.


AFL-CIO Blog: Glen Beck to the Unemployed: Go Get a Job at McDonalds!

WNYC on The NYC Department of Consumer Affiars 'Supermarket Sweep'

BJ's Cuts Full-Year Forecast

NY1: Protest at Chelsea Trader Joe's
Protesters gathered in front of the new Trader Joe's in Chelsea on Thursday to call attention to the plight of farm workers. They said shoppers should know about the ongoing human rights abuses against farm workers, who they say pick tomatoes sold at the company's stores.

Target Aims at Groceries to Boost 'Soft Sales'

To juice sales, Target is hoping fresh eats and a 5% discount for store credit-card holders will do the trick.
Despite reporting Wednesday that quarterly profits rose a whopping 14% in the previous quarter, the nation's second-biggest discount retailer said sales came in "softer than expected." [Daily News]

And two UFCW Local's are set to merge in the mid-west.“Growing our union, negotiating good contracts and helping workers form and join a union will be the priorities of the new organization,”

Tuesday Morning One Liners: 300 Loblaw Workers Reach Tentative Agreement; Avoid Strike...

Loblaw's Superstore Workers Reach Tentative Deal; Avoid Strike:
As previously reported in SN, 300 workers, represented by United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1000A, have been working without a contract from more than a year. Local news sources said they will vote on the new contract July 25.

AFL-CIO Blog: From Sweatshop to Union Shop?
The first-known apparel factory in the developing world to pay a living wage is operating in  Villa Altagracia, a small impoverished town in the Dominican Republic. For the first time, the 120 workers at the factory will be paid enough to support themselves and their families.

WSJ: Today's East Harlem; Costco & Condos.

Whole Foods' UK Stores, Dancing in the Red:
The upmarket grocer, which aimed to take on established rivals such as Waitrose and Marks & Spencer, lost £4.3m in Britain in the year to the end of September, according to accounts filed last week

Village Voice Blog: "New Chelsea Trader Joe's is Fabulous" 

San Francisco Gate: Pro Union Law Shot Down
A state appeals court struck down a union-backed California law Monday that allows labor picketing on a store's parking lots and private sidewalks, saying it unconstitutionally requires property owners to host speakers with whom they disagree.

SN: Grocery Wholesaler Indited on Fraud

NEWARK, N.J. — A federal grand jury here has indicted the former owner and chief executive of Capitol Investments Inc. for allegedly leading an $880 million Ponzi scheme related to a bogus grocery wholesaling business. 

 

In Warwick, NY, a Price Chopper Supermarkets store  has been awarded Silver-Level Certification award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s GreenChill Partnership for reducing the use of refrigerants.

Trader Joe's coming to the Upper West Side, while another Trader shuts its doors

Two quick items:

Trader John's Grocer John's and Gristedes mongol John Castimatidis' play off of Trader Joe's is now "donezo" according to a NYC Blogger.

Trader Joe's Coming to the Upper West Side:
A new residential tower on the Upper West Side will soon be home to a well-known grocery chain, ending months of speculation among neighborhood residents. NY1's Jill Urban filed the following report.
After more than two years, construction at the corner of 72nd and Broadway in Manhattan is now complete. "It's official. Trader Joe's will be coming. We expect them to open later this year. Other than that we can’t confirm what the date will be but we can certainly confirm that they will be coming to the building," said Gotham Organization Vice President Jeffrey Kaye.

Also, fyi the Blog will be down until April  12.

Gourmet Industry not seeing economic woes, Port Jefferson Stop & Shop to close Friday, Wednesday news...

Image via Wikipedia

The Gourmet Industry not seeing economic woes...

Wal-Mart aims at responding to critics.

But here's why efficient light bulbs fail to thrive...

West Virginia Kroger employees approve a new contract.

The Port Jefferson Station Stop & Shop, longtime anchor store at the Port Plaza, closed its doors for the last time Friday at 4 pm. In its place, an Uncle Giuseppe's Marketplace is expected to open by the beginning of next year, according to a press release from Edens & Avant, which owns the 20-store shopping center.

The controversial new grocery store in Manhattan originally called Trader John's will be rechristened Grocer John's, according to terms of a settlement between its owner, Gristedes Foods, and Trader Joe's, the nearby specialty store that sued it for trademark infringement.
Read more of this story

The call for President Obama to influence Americans' food choices is growing louder.
Read more of this story

Andy Stern, president of the SEIU, said he was appointing two trustees to run a dissident local that represents 150,000 health care workers in California.

Politics

MSNBC: Kennedys Want Revenge: Report

Gillibrand on Immigration.

Poll shows NY is split over Gillibrand.

Rush Limbaugh on Obama: "I hope he fails."

Related articles by Zemanta

• 14th Street's Trader Wars Over: The whole Trader John's fiasco was... (curbed.com)
• Wage violations in NYC Supermarkets, Wal-Mart finally unionizes in Canada (again), Buying Sustainable fish at your grocery store... (ufcwblog.blogspot.com)

Trader John's to be settled today, Aldi, Aldi, Aldi, Wednesday Morning One-Liners..

Image by Getty Images via Daylife
NY District Court is planning on hearing the Trader Joe's vs Trader John's case today.

Whole Foods Market, Inc., yesterday asked competitors in 29 markets to provide pricing and other confidential information to help it defend its merger with Wild Oats against a challenge from the Federal Trade Commission, according to a published report.

Wal-Mart's Executive VP of the Grocery Division was appointed to the Food Marketing Institute board of directors.

Wal-Mart was named the top retail brand.

Top Chef donates $100,000 to NY City Harvest.

A Syracuse paper tries to prepare NYC on the soon to be opening Aldi.

Here's more chains offering free antibiotics.

U.S. retail sales fell a sixth consecutive time in December, making a deep, broad drop that indicated worried consumers were adding to savings instead of spending at the height of the holiday season.

Politics

Patterson met with Cuomo yesterday on the vacant seat.

Democrats urged Patterson to choose someone with neither the name Caroline or Kennedy.

Obama's grandmother wants to bring him a traditional spear and shield as house warming gifts.

A federal judge rejected the notion to overturn term limit extension.

New York has beaten back a legal challenge to Gov. Paterson's "Amazon tax."A decision yesterday by Manhattan state Supreme Court Justice Eileen Bransten clears the way for Albany to force out-of-state online companies to collect an estimated $50 million a year in sales tax from New York shoppers. http://www.nypost.com/seven/01142009/news/regionalnews/court_oks_states_amazon_tax_150054.htm

Canada Justices to hear Wal-Mart v.s. UFCW, Trader John's update, Monday Morning Read.

Image by Getty Images via DaylifePenn Traffic Co., Syracuse, said Friday that it would close eight stores early next month as part of a strategy to invest behind its best-performing assets. The company said it would work with union representatives and employees to find the "best solution" for the affected workers.

The recession finally hits Wal-Mart.

Lee Scott thinks retailers specifically can help the plummeting economy.

Trader Joe's is suing Gristedes....Here's more at Bloomberg News.

In Minnesota, unionization gets a renewed push.

Canada Justices to hear WalMart vs UFCW.

Up to four stores at Atlas Park may close.


Politics

With Caroline Kennedy stumbling in her debut performance as Sen. Clinton's replacement-in-waiting, some are asking why Gov. David Patterson wouldn't pick New York's attorney general, Andrew Cuomo for Clinton's seat after she is named secretary of state.

Meanwhile Patterson & Kennedy meet to discuss the Senate.

A Queens assemblyman has proposed a four-day workweek for some state employees to help offset the $15 billion budget deficit faced by New York in 2009.

Just as the recession is throwing people out of work at an alarming rate, the unemployment insurance system in New York and many other states will start cutting off benefits this week for thousands of people who have been unable to find jobs since early last year.

Anthony Weiner, trying to fight his way out of Mayor Bloomberg's shadow.

Related articles by Zemanta

• PPP Poll: Kennedy's Standing Drops in New York
• New Yorkers to Caroline: No, Actually We Don't Know
• 28-Page Questionnaire for Senate Wanna-Bes

Wal-Mart pays at least $352 million in wage violations, Study confirms that Wal-Mart is still not good for NYC...Happy Holidays

Image by Toban Black via Flickr
Wal-Mart said on Tuesday that it would pay at least $352 million, and possibly far more, to settle lawsuits across the country claiming that it forced employees to work off the clock. Several lawyers described it as the largest settlement ever for lawsuits over wage violations.

More at Supermarket News

A study released today by the non-profit Fiscal Policy Institute shows that retail is the industry sector that employs the biggest chunk of the 1.3 million low-wage workers in this city -- that is, workers earning less than $13 per hour. Nearly half of these 176,000 low-wage retail workers earn less than $10 an hour, and the majority lack health insurance.


More workers were fired at a Canada mushroom farm.

Retailers are offering President Elect Obama advice on how to lift the economy.

A curbed tipster says "The former Gristedes Supermarket located on West 14th Street between 5th and 6th Avenue is re-opening as a 'Trader John's' supermarket. I'm not quite sure what 'Trader John's' is all about but I'm thinking it might be similar to Trader Joe's. Who knows. The new store sign and awning have been hung."

Related articles by Zemanta

• CurbedWire: More Lien Times at Sheffield 57, Trader John's?
• Wal-Mart Bids for Chilean Supermarket Chain
• Wal-Mart Settles 63 Lawsuits Over Wages

Tesco expansion, A&P Stock falls, Willets Point & More One Liners...

Image via Wikipedia

Tesco is slowing its U.S. expansion plans for Neighborhood Market, Simon Uwins, the company’s chief marketing officer, told SN yesterday.
Read more of this story

Stock in A&P here, on a free-fall since the summer, tumbled by more than 26% on Wednesday to close at its lowest levels in more than five years.
Read more of this story

Internet grocer FreshDirect here on Wednesday said it launched “Thanksgiving Central,” an online destination where shoppers can purchase all of the components of a Thanksgiving dinner with a single click, or a prepared heat-and-serve Thanksgiving meal at prices as low as $20 per person.
Read more of this story

Long Island is barely avoiding a recession.

Steve Levy is getting criticism for not being assertive in the recent murder of a 16 year old.

Two of the leading opponents of the Willets Point redevelopment project in Queens came out in favor of the plan on Wednesday, after they reached a critical deal with the city over the number of homes for low-income families that will be built at the site.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. reported a 10 percent increase in third-quarter profit Thursday but trimmed its profit outlook because of the troubled global economy and the renewed strength of the dollar.

10 Things you didn't know about Trader Joe's.

Wegmans closes Photo Dept, New Trader Joe's in NYC 2009, Tuesday Morning One Liners...

Image via WikipediaImage via Wikipedia

Wegman's officially closed all of their photo departments this past Saturday. 

BJ's Wholesale Club of Massachusetts says it will close its store in Greenville, putting about 60 people out of work.

The Gotham Gazette writes on the retail boom in Brooklyn.

A homeless man has been arrested on charges of shoplifting two raw steaks from a Hampton Bays supermarket, Southampton Town Police said.  Robert Noble, 50, took the steaks, worth $24.70, from a King Kullen meat case Wednesday around 2:45 p.m. and left, police said.

Price Chopper Supermarkets is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its recipe-sampling program.
Read more of this story 

UFCW Local 74D representing 148 workers at MGP Ingredients voted Friday to accept a new contract.

Members of the UFCW Local 1400 have ratified a new collective agreement with their employer, Westfair Foods in Phoenix.

Save Mart Supermarkets [California] announced last week that its recently opened Riverbank, Calif., supermarket has received a $46,000 rebate from the Modesto Irrigation District (MID), a public power agency, in recognition of the store’s energy-saving initiatives.
Read more of this story 

FITNESS magazine has named CEO of Wegmans, Danny Wegman, to its first-ever Fit 50 List,

Super 88, a chain of Asian supermarkets in Boston, has shuttered three of its six locations, including the chain’s original location in this city’s Chinatown, according to local reports last week.
Read more of this story  

Trader Joe's will open a new two-level store in a tower under construction at Broadway and 72nd Street next year.

Spartan Stores has agreed to acquire VG’s Food Center and VG’s Pharmacy, a 17-store operator based in Fenton, Mich., that is Spartan’s largest distribution customer.
Read more of this story  

Target Corp. said Friday it planned to stage 45 grand openings around the country yesterday, including its first two stores in Alaska.
Read more of this story  

Costco Wholesale Corp.’s joint-venture partner in Mexico is seeking a financial reorganization, but that should not impact the Mexican operations of Costco, industry analysts said Friday.
Read more of this story 

As part of a periodic series of consumer surveys, Wegmans Food Markets polled shoppers via email on their habits when it comes to purchasing prepared foods.

Eduardo Castro-Wright, president and c.e.o. of Wal-Mart Stores, USA will address Town Hall Los Angeles as part of its ongoing c.e.o. series on Tuesday, October 21 at the Omni Los Angeles Hotel. Angelenos have the opportunity to ask this industry leader how the current economy changes Wal-Mart's business strategies

Political

Several polls released this morning show Barack Obama with significant leads in Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Chuck Schumer will be in Queens next week to campaign for City Councilman Joseph Addabbo,

NYC council speaker backs Bloomberg plan

The widely diverging views held by Rep. John Hall, D-Dover Plains, and Republican challenger Kieran Lalor of Peekskill present voters in the sprawling 19th Congressional District with concrete choices on Nov. 4.
 

Rapper Jay-Z, who recorded a robo-call for Barack Obama in Ohio before the primary, is out with a video for Michigan urging "all [his] people" to vote on November 4

Monday Morning One Liners...

Image via Wikipedia

NY1 has a story/video up on the new Trader Joe's in Brooklyn.

The New York Times writes on Jefferson Market, and the struggles of going through 2 economic crashes.

Brooklyn Paper says "the Boro is salivating" over the new Trader Joes.

Fresh & Easy Up Ante with another 3 in Vegas 

The Tesco-owned grocer said it will open six additional stores in Clark County next month.

Ex-Pathmark Execs Turn Up at Rite Aid
John Standley returns to the drug store operator as president and c.o.o., while Frank Vitrano comes aboard as c.f.o. and chief administrative officer.

Eli Zabar, who owns the decade-old two-story haunt known for its $12 chocolate bars, $30 imported nuts and $95 hams, told a CBS affiliate station in New York that he wanted to be transparent to his customers about the need to raise prices as his energy bills soar. So he's affixed tasteful placards in his store that read "ATTN CUSTOMERS: An energy surcharge of 1.8% will be added to every purchase."

Wal-Mart is aiming at curbing most of their plastic bag use.

After rejecting a new two-year labor agreement for MGP Ingredients, Inc, the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local #74D elected late Friday to enact a work stoppage at the company's Atchison, Kan., plant effective at 8 a.m. Saturday. The local is made up of 148 members.

The "Grow Monroe" program was launched last week upstate, and is modeled after King Kullen's buy local produce program in Long Island.

More than 3,500 home care workers averted a strike this week when their union reached a contract agreement with one agency and came to a tentative understanding on a contract with another. 1199 SEIU negotiators signed a 14-month deal with Prestige Care Inc. and reached a tentative agreement on contract terms with Bestcare Inc. Both deals would provide raises and, for the first time, health insurance.

Politics

Brian Foley was joined by over 50 members of four local unions Saturday, including Local 1500 for door-to-door canvassing in Brookhaven. The campaign has received a huge push from organized labor over the last week thanks to seven endorsements of Foley by local unions.

NYT writes on the problems at the Bronx Democratic Party, where last night Assemblyman Jose Rivera was voted out as chairman.

Caroyln McCarthy is facing her biggest challenge this election.

Steven Greenhouse writes the difficulties union members have canvassing for Obama.

Here's  Bill Rafferty on Sarah Palin,

The bailout bill will go to the House today, where it faces some opposition from Republicans.

BJ's in Red Hook, Trader Joe's in Brooklyn Opens today, Eli Zabar and the energy tax...Friday Morning One liners...

Image via Wikipedia

Two former Pathmark Executives were hired by Rite Aid:  Rite Aid Corp., the third-biggest U.S. drugstore chain, hired new operating and finance chiefs after reporting its fifth straight unprofitable quarter and widened its projected loss for the year.

Here's more in depth analysis via MarketWatch.

Via Paul Santarpia: Another Pathmark is closing, Philly...

The BJ’s Wholesale Club destined for the Red Hook waterfront might be part of a six-level shopping plaza with several other stores and even some residential units, The Brooklyn Paper has learned.

Local 400 has a new contract with Farmland Foods.

The Daily News covers Trader Joe's grand opening today.

Supermarket News covered it also....Trader Joe’s this week will open doors to new locations in Brooklyn, N.Y.; Richmond, Va.; and Williamsburg, Va., the company said.
Read more of this story

 

The Eli Zabar 'energy' tax is getting a lot of heat from press.

Here's more from NYT

One blogger says its a 'how to go out of business recipe' 

And the Supermarket News picked the story up also

Zabar’s, the venerable Upper West Side food store here, has been adding a 1.8% surcharge to purchases in an effort to defray — and call attention to — its increased energy costs, according to a New York Times report this week.
Read more of this story

 

An analysis of blog postings conducted by the research firm J.D. Power & Associates here indicates Whole Foods earns high marks when it comes to the perception of its environmental sustainability while Safeway and Costco have a long way to go.
Read more of this story 

A lockout continues at the Grain Processing Corp. plant in Muscatine despite six hours of talks aimed at reaching an agreement between workers and the company.

The Neighborhood Retail Alliance blogs about the Supermarket crisis.

IGA Global in Chicago said the IGA banner has been unveiled for the first time ever in Mexico on two stores supplied by Unified Grocers, Los Angeles.
Read more of this story

 

Political

The truth of Rudy Giuliani in office is now coming out.  An ex-aid has launched a website.

 Via Observer
 Kornacki says that after the deal was nearly done, John McCain inflamed the resistance of House Republicans and helped created a conflict that justified his campaign's suspension

Wal-Mart unionized in Canada, Monday Morning One liners...

Image via Wikipedia

Employees at a Wal-Mart Stores Inc. outlet in Canada won an arbitrator-imposed contract on Friday, becoming the giant retailer's only location in North America with a collective agreement in place.

Press release on the newly unionized Wal-Mart.  Download the Media Release (PDF 1881k)

AP picked up the story as well.

Trade reports out of the United Kingdom last week said Fresh &  Easy Neighborhood Market here is preparing to scout locations in Chicago in advance of a possible move there.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market here has reportedly pulled its application for a liquor license at a store it opened earlier this month in Van Nuys, Calif., after the Los Angeles City Council said it would vote on whether to rescind the license that was pending.

Yet another Eli Zabar profile, this time in the "New Yorker"

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — As part of an effort to control retail prices Wegmans here is improving its operating efficiency. “Examples include lowering our electricity costs with new technology and re-lamping of stores and distribution center,” said Mary Ellen Burris, senior vice president of consumer affairs for Wegmans,

Eatontown NJ Pathmark to close: Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. will close its Pathmark store on Route 36, citing the store's poor performance, the company said Wednesday.

Trader Joe's Brooklyn:  A photo emerges of the Trader Joe's under construction on Atlantic Avenue in Cobble Hill [McBrooklyn via Racked

Politics

Republicans could lose control of State Senate ;Nearly 70 years of Republican domination of the State Senate could end after the fall elections

Bloomberg Encourages Staff to Watch the Clock; As of Monday, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has 500 days left in office


Hungry?

Arby's Restaurant Group, the fast food chain whose New York City presence includes just three Queens outposts, plans to open 41 new locations in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx in the next decade.