Local 1500 to Bloomberg: Fix up your supermarket plan, King Soopers members reject contract proposal, Thursday One-Liners...

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End of a retailing era, Virgin Megastore shuts its doors in NYC.

Local 1500 tells Mayor Bloomberg to beef up his supermarket plan.

A Food Basics store will open at the site of a former A&P in Fairview, N.J., next week.

A&P is also debuting a new private label for kids.

Why Wal-Mart needs the Employee Free Choice Act.

UFCW Local 1776 members at Acme supermarkets will vote on a contract next week.

Overhill Farms, a major food-processing plant in the L.A. area, terminated more than 200 employees after an IRS audit finds that they had provided 'invalid or fraudulent' Social Security numbers, UFCW 770 calls it a 'desktop raid'.

Here's more on the firings of 254 employees.

UFCW 7 members at King Soopers have rejected the contract offer...On the contract offer:

Roxanne Heeney, a pharmacy technician at the King Soopers store at 6030 Stetson Hills Blvd. and an employee for more than 20 years, said the offer "really bums me out, that they are trying to decrease our benefits and not give us any wage increase. I can't make ends meet now. I want to avoid a strike, but if we have to strike, we will. I would like to see something that would help us maintain our retirement fund so we won't have to work until we're 95."

King Soopers in Colorado, has also filed a suit accusing union representatives of disrupting business and intimidating workers by sending groups of union representatives into stores to talk to workers.

They're set to meet today in court, as King Soopers tries to block the UFCW representatives from speaking to their members on the sales floor.

The Progressive Grocer has an indepth story on King Soopers allegations of "Union Hooliganism"

They're also reporting 'Fresh & Easy' to open four stores in July.

The UFT replaces Randy Weingarten.

A horrific accident took the lives of three workers and injured 41 others in an explosion and roof collapse at the ConAgra Foods Inc. facility in Garner, North Carolina, on June 9, 2009. The (UFCW) Local 204 represents 900 workers in that facility.

Politics

Howard Dean has endorsed both Brad Lander and Josh Skaller, only problem, they're running against each other.

Another poll confirms Patterson's unpopularity.

Senator Monnserratte is now turning to back the Dems.

NYSUT endorses Gillibrand.

The Food Safety Bill continues to advance in the house.

As the Senate reels, Espada says he gets 2 votes

Sen. Pedro Espada, the dissident Bronx Democrat in charge of the deadlocked Senate, is insisting that he can count himself twice to get a quorum to start passing bills. At the same time, he is contending that an investigation into his finances by prosecutors is payback for cozying with Republicans to take over the Senate. Meanwhile, allegations were flying that former Senate Majority Leader Malcolm A. Smith of Queens directed state money to a school attended by, in Espada's words, Smith's "out-of-wedlock child."

NYC Wal-Mart Rumors continue to fly, Whole Foods to sell 32 shops

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Despite Supermarket News reporting this morning that Wal-Mart has declined interest in the Circut City and Virgin Megastore sites, Wal-Mart did acknowledge their continued interest in the "Jewel" of retail, New York City.

Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union President Stuart Applebaum called the move opportunistic:
"We don't need Wal-Mart to take a advantage of an economic crisis to sneak into New York and drive down standards and wages," he said.

He's right, the last thing this city needs is for Wal-Mart to continue to take advantage of the recission. Reports have surfaced in the past few weeks of their strategy to take advantage of the recession in order to "sneak" into cities, they've done so in Chicago and now California.


NYC Rumors

Gothamist: "Reverend Billy to send Wal-Mart back to lake of hellfire"


Other News

Whole Foods to sell 32 stores in FTC agreement.

Supermarkets and wine, Ahold (Stop & Shop) doing just fine, Tuesday One Liners..

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Virgin Megastore will be closing it's doors for good.

Wal-Mart's next recession target: Central Los Angeles.

Wal-Mart is closing Canadian SAM'S CLUBS

Newsday will start charging Internet surfers for content on its Web site. But exactly when that will happen and how it will work is still anybody’s guess.

What's the future of the Southhampton King Kullen project?

Price Chopper is urging customers to support the wine expansion.

The New York Post has a great synopsis of the supermarket wine battle.

Editorial:Uncork the wine at the supermarket.

The Fresh Market was to have closed its store in Michigan Sunday, signaling its exit from the Michigan market, published reports said. Read more of this story

A repositioned Ahold is holding up well in a difficult economy. The retailer here on Monday reported increases in sales and net profits for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended Dec. 28, with U.S. chains Stop & Shop and Giant-Landover each posting their best quarterly identical-store sales in five years.
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