Thursday Morning One Liners: Shaw's, Fairway & Fast Food in NYC

The CEO of Fairway Market ended months of speculation when he confirmed the supermarket chain will open a branch on the Upper East Side at a Community Board 8 meeting Wednesday.  More @ DNAinfo.

New Stop & Shop in Farmingdale: They are set to open for business late spring or early summer, a spokesperson said. The 74,000 square foot store will be housed on a nine-acre section of land and is expected to create 30 full-time management and 140 part-time jobs, according to Stop & Shop spokesperson Kevin Ryan.

Cheerios first honored employees in Philadelphia, now here in NYC, Staten Island, ShopRite employees are being honored with their photo's on new Cheerios boxes. “It’s a reflection of the Staten Island community and the associates creating these results,” said Kevin Mannix, owner of the Graniteville grocery store.

JetBlue's HQ lands in Queens: Queens beats out Orlando in hard-fought battle to house growing airline; New York City to keep 950 jobs as JetBlue relocates from Forest Hills to Long Island City.

Hyde Park Set to OK new Stop & Shop — The town Planning Board is poised to approve construction of a Stop & Shop supermarket in the Hyde Park Mall after several years of board review and site-plan modifications.

Shaw's Strike

Supermarket News: Shaw's has told the union representing striking workers at its distribution center here that it has "started the process of recruiting and hiring permanent replacement workers" at the facility.

Eagle Tribune: Shaw's says it will replace striking workers.

Boston Globe: Shaw's will layoff 4% of its workers.

Shaw’s Supermarkets Inc. said yesterday that it plans to lay off 4 percent of its store associates in early April in an effort to stay competitive and make its stores more efficient. The move comes more than two weeks after hundreds of its workers went on strike across New England.

Shaw’s spokeswoman Judy Chong said the cutbacks will take effect on April 10 and include “some full-time retail positions’’ in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. But she declined to say how many employees

UFCW Local 791 meanwhile has blasted Shaw's for issuing this threat:
“Many of these men and women have worked at the warehouse for many years. By threatening to bring in replacement workers, Shaw’s is jeopardizing the livelihoods of hundreds of workers and their families. It is long past time for the Company to return to the table and publicly demonstrate its commitment to their hard working and dedicated employees who have helped make Shaw’s a successful company,” Read more: Press Release



Progressive Grocer: UFCW 791 Rips Shaw's for Threatening to Hire Permanent Replacement Workers.

Supermarket News: Walmart On the Attack, Food Price Wars
“Wal-Mart is lacing up the gloves as it prepares to step back into the ring and win the modern-day price war in food retail,” said Deborah Weinswig, an analyst with Citigroup, New York, in a report issued last week. Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart Stores posted a rare dip in comparable-store sales for the fourth quarter — an event that served as “a wake-up call for management,” she said.

BJ's Wholesale Club will be moving into new corporate headquarters in Westborough, Mass., early next year, a spokeswoman for the chain told SN Wednesday. 

South Hampton Press: Is King Kullen in the plans for a new store at the new Tuckahoe Hamlet Center?
The hamlet of Tuckahoe, a mostly residential community without much of a commercial center, may soon feature a large shopping development that includes a King Kullen grocery store, as many as four restaurants, more than 10 retail shops and about a dozen new apartments.

Politics

Crain's: NYC Sick-Day Bill to be Reintroduced.

Speaker Christine Quinn on the Big Mac Attack:
Hoping to stop fast-food restaurants from saturating poor neighborhoods, she announced plans Tuesday to single out the junk-food joints in the city zoning code.  Read more:@ NY Daily News

Friday Morning One Liners...Teixeria joins movement for Employee Free Choice, Local 7 updates...

 "Now more than ever, we need a strong union movement to protect our jobs, our pensions, and our future. The Employee Free Choice Act simply guarantees a level playing field for all workers. It makes sure everyone plays by the same rules. That’s as important in the workplace as it is in baseball."

-  In a joint statement from Jimmy Rollins, Mark Teixeira, and 13 other MLB Players.

UFCW members rally at Fred Myer after the company called the police on union representatives.

UFCW Local 7

Supermarket News: More than a week after contract negotiations broke down again, union grocery employees of Safeway here are demanding that the United Food and Commercial Workers sanction a strike. But it was still unclear Thursday whether an OK was forthcoming.

The Colorado Gazette has more.

The Fresh Market on opening it's first Connecticut store, and first New York store (Troy) "...[We] hope the opening is a sign of continued growth in the Northeast."

Aldi announced two new store openings in Florida.

Current and former Wal-Mart employees in Ohio and 29 other states can now apply for a share of an $85 million lawsuit...Read more about the judges approval of the $85 million lawsuit.

Powering the NYC Economy with Good Grocery Jobs...

Costco has announced they will accept food stamps nationwide. 

Politics, Health Care, Elsewhere....

The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi of California, on Thursday unveiled an $1.055 trillion health care package that would provide insurance to up to 36 million people by broadly expanding Medicaid, the state-federal insurance program for the poor, and by offering subsidies to moderate-income Americans to buy insurance either from private carriers or a new government-run plan...The New York Times has more.

Newsday covers the Nassau County Executive debate between Suozzi and Mangano.

Living without heat in the Bronx, tenants put up signs outside of building asking for help.

More than 200 food vendors held a spirited noon rally on the steps of City Hall. They were protesting police harassment, a charge the NYPD denies.

New York's budget deficit continues to grow, this time $3.2B

And Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino and Mark Teixeira,  Heath Bell, Dave Bush, LaTroy Hawkins, Torii Hunter, John Lannan, Andrew Miller, J.J. Putz, Justin Verlander and Adam Wainwright have all added their names to the broad coalition to support the Employee Free Choice Act.

SUMMIT ON GROCERY STORES AND GOOD JOBS IN OUR COMMUNITY

In the midst of one of the worst recessions in American history, community groups, local political leaders and academics will consider the role of grocery stores as both retailers and employers.

Recent research suggests that the retail sector will generate thousands of new jobs as the economy recovers…

What does that mean for the Upper East Side?

How will these jobs impact our local economy?

What should we expect from grocers-as-employers?

Hear from experts on the economy, community leaders, and grocery workers as they participate in a roundtable discussion of the Upper East Side’s future in retail.

We hope you’ll join us on Wednesday, October 28, for a roundtable discussion of the issues faced by grocery store employees and grocers-as-employers. You’ll hear from major local employers, grocery store workers, policy experts, and community leaders, as they discuss the ways in which successful grocery businesses can also be community-leading employers. An open discussion will follow the roundtable.

Check out the flier or print the flier here: http://www.buildingblocksproject.org/files/media/thank-you/GG_Summit_Turnout_StorefrontFlyer.pdf

RSVP ON FACEBOOK

Rockaway gets a Stop & Shop, Tuesday Morning One Liners...

Mayor Bloomberg broke ground on a $23 Million, 55,000 Square-Foot, Stop and Shop at the Rockaway Peninsula Saturday.  The Stop & Shop will bring union jobs and a long needed supermarket to the under-served community.

The state of Tennessee is considering the sale of wine in Grocery stores.

Meanwhile, two Giant Eagle stores in Pittsburgh were awarded licenses to sell beer.

Winn-Dixie Stores (Florida) yesterday said it posted a loss of $8.1 million for the 12-week first fiscal quarter, as smaller average purchases dragged same-store sales down 1.5%. In the year-ago first quarter, the company posted a loss of $2.3 million. 

Wal-Mart announced their projected total cap ex for the fiscal year ending Jan. 31, 2010, to range from $12.5 to $13.1 billion, up from about $11.5 billion in fiscal year 2009.

Moody's Investors Service here last week said it expects revenue growth in the supermarket industry "will remain close to flat or slightly negative" into early 2010.

About 20,000 Fry's and Safeway workers in Arizona are still without a contract.

Fresh & Easy will expand into Fresno (California).

Fresh Direct is teaming up with Robin Hood, to fight poverty in NYC.

NJ: Mini-Marts and Bodega's, filling the void of no supermarkets in Atlantic City.

The re-developing Brooklyn Navy Yard received $1 million to develop a Green Manufacturing Center. A facility expected to employ 300 full-time workers.

Tomorrow Local 1500 is co-sponsoring a Summit on Good Food and Good Jobs in New York's Upper East Side all are invited and encouraged to attend the round table discussion.

UFCW Local 876 has developed the first UFCW Hearing benefits program.

1.5 Million people left New York between 2000 and 2008, the largest population loss in the nation.

Politics

The New York Times has endorsed Michael Bloomberg for Mayor.

The NY Post reports Andrew Cuomo will run for Governor.

Thursday Morning One Liners...

Image via Wikipedia

Wal-Mart continues to pursue building a store on a Civil War battle field for some reason.

Gourmet Garage will take the upper west side Balducci's location, they have also made an offer on the 14th St. location. Here's a photo of the sign in the window of the UWS location.

The Upper East Side Informer has more on what this means to the UES.

King Soopers workers reject another contract offer in Colorado.

Meanwhile the companies advertisements for 'temp jobs' drew crowds.

Out in Riverhead Long Island, communities are begging for a Trader Joe's to open.

The Wall Street Journal looks at the strong earnings of Supermarkets.

Senator Harkin is considering a compromise on Employee Free Choice
More here

Lee Scott said what?, Another tax loophole closes for Wal-Mart, FTC tells Whole Foods to rebrand Wild Oats, Trader John's

Image via WikipediaYesterday Lee Scott addressed the National Retail Federation in New York City, urging cooperation to solve the nations health care crisis.

Lee Scott, the outgoing chief executive officer of Wal-Mart Stores, asked business leaders to embrace such initiatives as universal health care, renewable energy and immigration reform during a presentation to attendees at the National Retail Federation’s Big Show here yesterday.

He [Lee Scott], also sees a new consumer mindset.

Local retailers throughout China are teaming up to battle Wal-Mart.

Another Wal-Mart Tax loophole may come to an end, this time in West Virginia.

The UFCW is gearing up for their Wal-Mart battle in Canada.

More info on Wal-Mart's new private label line "the Wal-Mart Great Value line"

And if that's not enough Wal-Mart news, they're also on the verge of setting up shop in Russia.

The FTC asks Whole Foods to re-brand Wild Oats.

Whole Foods is also putting off another store, this time in New Hampshire.

Wegman's CEO recognized for 'business ethics'

AdAge brings up a great point regarding the Trader Joe's, Trader John's lawsuit. "But in New York, no one's afraid to blatantly copy and/or steal a good idea -- hence Ray's Original Pizza, Ray's Pizza, Famous Ray's Original Pizza, Original Famous Ray's Pizza, New York's Rayriginal's Fizza, etc"

Progressive Grocer picked up the story also.

Food Marketing Institute’s new president and chief executive officer said the association is working diligently on a range of issues with Congress and the incoming Obama administration.

Politics

Caroline Kennedy still has a shot at the Senate seat says Governor Patterson.

Tom Suozzi met with Patterson on the Senate seat.

Anthony Weiner blames Mayor Bloomberg for New York City's growing problems, specifically the "boom-and-bust planning"

Democrats, first time in control of the State Senate since 1965 made some moves yesterday.

Elsewhere

A battle is raging on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, where CVS is wooing cash-strapped shoppers with house-brand anti-wrinkle cream that’s as much as 30 percent cheaper than L’Oreal SA’s Advanced Revitalift.

Buying online to avoid sales taxes could end soon.

Zoo's and Aquariums may face the ax here.

Do the Rockerfeller Drug laws need reform?