February 18: Is Drink Wine Day!

Retailers Applaud 'E-Fairness' Bill

ARLINGTON, Va. — Food Marketing Institute and other retail associations said they support a legislative effort to tax e-commerce sales.

“Inequities in Internet commerce are already taking a big bite out of neighborhood supermarkets, state coffers and employment in local communities because online retailers aren’t required to collect sales tax,” said FMI Senior Vice President of Government and Public Affairs Jennifer Hatcher in a statement.

The authors of the Marketplace Fairness Act are Senators Mike Enzi, R-Wyo.; Dick Durbin, D-Ill.; Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Heidi Heitkamp, D-S.D.; and Representatives Steve Womack, R-Ark.; Jackie Speier, D-Calif.; Peter Welch, D-Vt.; and John Conyers, D-Mich. They introduced the legislation, which allows states to require online retailers to remit a sales tax on goods, on Thursday.

“The landscape is changing – we want and need to a level playing field to compete,” Hatcher said, noting that 92% of FMI members said ecommerce would have a fundamental impact on their business and that 42% of food retailers offer online shopping.


Read More: http://supermarketnews.com/retail-amp-financial/retailers-applaud-e-fairness-bill#ixzz2L3CHLOwx

Giant Eagle Shoppers React to Program Cancellation

PITTSBURGH — Giant Eagle shoppers are outraged about the retailer’s decision to end a program providing grocery discounts based on gas purchases, according to hundreds of comments posted on the retailer’s Facebook page.






 “I'm really disappointed by this change,” one person wrote. “This might even be enough to make me change to a different grocery store.”

As reported, a spokesman for Giant Eagle told SN that it is phasing out the “foodperks!” program because it did not provide significant savings for customers. About 92% of Giant Eagle customers saved less than $40 from foodperks! in the preceding 12 months, Daniel Donovan, the Giant Eagle spokesman, told SN.

As it phases out foodperks!, Giant Eagle said it is retaining its fuelperks! program that allows customers to earn discounts on gasoline, and adding a separate fuel-related discount.


Read More: http://supermarketnews.com/giant-eagle/giant-eagle-shoppers-react-program-cancellation#ixzz2L3Bk4gW0

Pathmark to Close Long Island Store

MONTVALE, N.J. — A&P here plans to close its Pathmark store in East Meadow, N.Y. when its lease expires in May, officials said.

In a notice filed with state labor officials, A&P said 118 workers would be affected by the closure. The 80,000-square-foot store had been operating at the East Meadow Mall for 35 years.
Local reports said the store’s landlord felt the store was losing customers to a nearby Waldbaums, also operated by A&P.


Read More: http://supermarketnews.com/retail-amp-financial/pathmark-close-long-island-store#ixzz2L3BPo5bh

Safeway Executive Calls for Industry Effort to Combat Human Trafficking

PLEASANTON, Calif. — Carl Graziani, senior vice president, supply chain for Safeway here, is encouraging retailers and CPG manufacturers to begin “mapping their [global] supply chains” in an effort to identify suppliers with suspect labor practices that could include human trafficking and slavery.

“As an industry, we need to think about how we can do this collectively,” he said earlier this month at the Supply Chain Conference, held in Orlando, Fla., by the Food Marketing Institute and the Grocery Manufacturers Association.”Individually, it’s a monumental task.” He suggested an industry initiative to share information, as well as establish a database and standards.

Safeway and other large food retailers based in California have been required over the past year to disclose to consumers on their websites what actions, if any, they are taking to eradicate slavery and human trafficking from their global supply chain, per California’s Supply Chain Transparency Act (SB 657).


Read More: http://supermarketnews.com/retail-amp-financial/safeway-executive-calls-industry-effort-combat-human-trafficking#ixzz2L3AGUJtK

State Budget Bills Filed In Mo. House; Medicaid Expansion Left Out

The 13 bills that make up the state budget have been filed in the Missouri House, and they don’t include Governor Jay Nixon’s (D) proposed Medicaid expansion.

That part of the Governor’s budget proposal would have drawn down $908 million in federal funds for Fiscal Year 2014, which begins July 1st. House Budget Chair Rick Stream (R, Kirkwood) says as a result, the Governor’s projected $46 million in savings is also being removed from the budget.

“We’ve spread it out over different areas," Stream told reporters today. "I can’t make any promises of where it will eventually end up, (but) there’s some money in the preschool program.”

Stream says he’s sticking with the Governor’s proposed budget for Missouri’s K-12 schools, while he wants to spend $14 million less on Higher Education. The House version of next year’s budget also makes room for the Governor’s tax amnesty proposal. Missouri lawmakers have until May 10th, one week before the 2013 session ends, to pass the state budget.

http://www.news.stlpublicradio.org/post/state-budget-bills-filed-mo-house-medicaid-expansion-left-out

February 16: National Almond Day

A Scary Reality About Wal-Mart's Customers Might Be Coming To A Head

Wal-Mart shares are tanking after the company's executives called February sales a "total disaster."

“Have you ever had one of those weeks where your best-prepared plans weren’t good enough to accomplish everything you set out to do?” Wal-Mart exec Cameron Geiger wrote in one of the emails reported by Renee Dudley at Bloomberg.

“Well, we just had one of those weeks here at Walmart U.S. Where are all the customers? And where’s their money?” Geiger asked.

Wal-Mart is facing a scary reality: the ailing finances of its core customers, Brian Sozzi, chief equities analyst at NBG Productions, told us.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/scary-reality-walmarts-customers-might-195023259.html

February 15: National Gumdrop Day

Let the celebrations begin!!!!

The city of St. Louis was founded February 15, 1764

St. Louis /seɪnt ˈluːɪs/ (French: Saint-Louis or St-Louis, [sɛ̃ lwi] ( listen)) is an independent city[6] on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 318,069 in July 2011,[5] it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The metropolitan St. Louis area, officially classified as the Greater St. Louis, (CSA) population of 2,882,932, is the 15th-largest in the country and is the largest metro area in Missouri.

The city of St. Louis was founded in 1764 by Pierre Laclède and Auguste Chouteau, and after the Louisiana Purchase, it became a major port on the Mississippi River. Its population expanded after the American Civil War, and it became the fourth-largest city in the United States in the late 19th century. It seceded from St. Louis County in March 1877, allowing it to become an independent city and limiting its political boundaries. In 1904, it hosted the Louisiana Purchase Exposition and the 1904 Summer Olympics. The city's population peaked in 1950, then began a long decline that continues in the 21st century.

The economy of St. Louis relies on service, manufacturing, trade, transportation of goods, and tourism. The region is home to several major corporations: Express Scripts, Emerson Electric, Enterprise Holdings, Reinsurance Group of America, Peabody Energy, Ameren, Charter Communications, Graybar Electric, Sigma-Aldrich, Monsanto, Centene and Edward Jones. St. Louis is home to three professional sports teams: the St. Louis Cardinals, one of the most successful Major League Baseball clubs; the hockey St. Louis Blues, and the football St. Louis Rams. The city is commonly identified with the Gateway Arch, part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in downtown St. Louis.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis,_Missouri

Happy Birthday St. Louis