Grocery Stores

Seven Southland grocery stores are among 12 under-performing locations nationwide to be closed by Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Markets in an effort to boost profitability, a report says. The seven stores in Southern California -- in Anaheim, Bakersfield, Baldwin Park, Fountain Valley, Fresno, Hemet and Ontario -- will close within the next few weeks, along with four stores in Phoenix and one in Las Vegas, company spokesman Brendan Wonnacott wrote in an email. "At this time, there is simply not enough growth in sales and customers at those stores to keep them open," Wonnacott said.

SPRINGDALE, Utah - There comes a moment when you step backward off a cliff, clinging to a rope the width of your pinkie, and ask yourself, "Why am I doing this?" It's inevitable. Fear of heights (and its close cousin, fear of falling) is as deeply ingrained in most of us as fear of sharks or snakes. Sometimes, though, confronting these fears is the first step to discovering a new world - a coral reef, the Amazon rainforest or the convoluted landscape of southern Utah, near Zion National Park, revealed through the fast-growing sport of canyoneering.

Latasha Jones visits the Walmart Neighborhood Market in Indianapolis several times a week to stock up on fresh produce and baked goods. The grocery store, located on a busy thoroughfare just off Interstate 465, is a convenient stop on the way to work. "This is the only place I shop for groceries," said Jones, 27. "It's cheaper than the Supercenter, and it's always busy. " If Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has its way, the same scenario will be repeated many times across urban neighborhoods as the world's largest retailer unleashes a new strategy to gain access to the city.

Once you've mastered the basic techniques, you can really start to play around with your "peeps. " Vanilla flavoring can be substituted with another flavoring, such as almond, mint or lemon extract. Or you can use powdered spices such as ground cinnamon. You can even use rose- or orange blossom water, which is actually quite delicious. Start by beating in about one-fourth teaspoon of the flavoring at a time and then adding more to reach the desired taste. Colored sugars are available at most grocery stores as well as at cooking and baking supply stores, but you can make your own custom hues: Place granulated sugar in a sealable plastic bag or jar with a few drops of food coloring, then shake until the coloring is evenly distributed.

Assi Natural Market carries dozens of kimchi products. There are more than 200 kinds of dumplings. Its carts mimic the red and green of Sriracha sauce bottles. All of which seems to indicate a pretty standard Asian grocery. But once it opens this month in Irvine, Assi aspires to be a hybrid of cultures - like the growing and increasingly moneyed population of second-generation Asian Americans it hopes to draw into its aisles. The goal, manager Thomas Yoon said, is to become the Whole Foods of ethnic supermarkets.

Long before banks started locating branches inside supermarkets, grocery stores acted as informal financial establishments, cashing payroll checks and personal checks to provide ready cash for their customers. That's starting to change. Whole Foods Market Inc. is considering banning the use of personal checks at its stores and this month stopped accepting checks at two stores in Los Angeles County and one in Arizona as a test. Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, the California division of British retailing giant Tesco, won't take personal checks at any of the 70 stores it operates in California.

Laws passed by California cities to protect labor when businesses change hands received a boost Monday from the California Supreme Court, which revived a Los Angeles ordinance aimed at protecting grocery workers. The state high court ruled 6 to 1 that the 2005 city measure, which lower courts had rejected, did not usurp state or federal law or violate constitutional guarantees by requiring new grocery store owners to keep existing employees for months after taking over ownership.

There are probably a good number of people who actually pay attention to all those grocery store ads, which attempt to convince consumers they should become regular shoppers at a particular market because a) the food is better, b) the prices are better and c) the service is infinitely better. I am not one of them. Double coupons or not, there's never really been enough of a difference for me to form an allegiance to the place I shop. Until just a few days ago, that is.

Quick, which of the following is not allowed in New York: riding the subway without pants, performing a play in public while naked, or buying wine at the grocery store? If you chose the last option, perhaps you've been following one of the liveliest debates to emerge from otherwise dry budget talks in the state capital, Albany, where politicians struggling with a dire fiscal crisis see wine as an antidote. New York remains one of 15 states that limit wine sales to liquor stores.

With the door now open for a strike, and management and the labor unions at Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons preparing for another potential work stoppage, one thing is clear: The true winners would be competing grocery stores. Since the last strike and lockout in 2003-04, which lasted 141 days, the three big grocers have hemorrhaged market share. As of 2004, the chains held nearly 60% of the Southern California grocery trade, according to the research firm Strategic Resource Group in New York.

Assi Natural Market carries dozens of kimchi products. There are more than 200 kinds of dumplings. Its carts mimic the red and green of Sriracha sauce bottles. All of which seems to indicate a pretty standard Asian grocery. But once it opens this month in Irvine, Assi aspires to be a hybrid of cultures - like the growing and increasingly moneyed population of second-generation Asian Americans it hopes to draw into its aisles. The goal, manager Thomas Yoon said, is to become the Whole Foods of ethnic supermarkets.

A two-year study of more than 1,200 seafood samples by Oceana, an environmental advocacy group, found that a third of seafood sold in grocery stores and restaurants is mislabeled, the group announced Thursday. DNA testing of seafood samples between 2010 and 2012 found that 33% were mislabeled according to U.S. Food and Drug Administration guidelines. The most commonly mislabeled fish were snapper and tuna. Of the samples labeled as snapper, 87% were mislabeled. More than 30 different species of fish were found to be substituted for snapper, but the most common were rockfish and tilapia.

The name of the town sings out from a plain green road sign on Route 248 in eastern Pennsylvania. Beersville. One mile ahead. No giant stone pretzels or statues shaped like suds-filled steins mark the entrance to the Northampton County town. Instead, the highway signs stop saying Beersville and start mentioning Klecknersville. Did you miss it? Turns out Beersville, about an hour and a half northwest of Philadelphia, is easy to miss. It has a Facebook page. On it, BeerNerd Beer, Stewart Kraft Brewer, and a guy who calls himself Rickie Bobbie who went to "Nasbar University," all claim to live in Beersville.

Re "Fresh & Easy may check out for good," Business, Dec. 6 I am not surprised. While Fresh & Easy grocery stores have charm, and much of the food is fresh, shopping at them is certainly not "easy. " I try to avoid my neighborhood store. What irks me most is the fact that I have to do my own checkout. I marvel at how skilled supermarket clerks are at that; I am clumsy and slow. The machines often do not accept store coupons, and the clerks who help customers have to go in a roundabout manner to give the discounts.

As part of its expansion in Southern California, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is opening a hiring center for its Neighborhood Market under construction in Chinatown. The temporary hiring office, opening Thursday on Hill Street in Chinatown, will ultimately hire 65 mostly full-time cashiers, stockers and supervisors at the grocery store, store manager Kenney Tran said. "We're going to provide good jobs and bring accessible groceries and affordable options to the community," he said. The new market, set to open early next year at Cesar Chavez and Grand avenues, is one of 21 new Wal-Mart grocery stores announced in California.

Jackie Dancy has been to the Albertsons supermarket near her Baldwin Hills home many times, but she couldn't care less that the store is closing permanently. The retired accountant now does most of her grocery shopping at a nearby Target, which she likes for its convenience and low prices. "It's much cleaner and well stocked," Dancy said. "They always have what you need. " Supermarkets are a staple of most neighborhoods, but their community status and financial well-being are under intense assault from rivals of all sizes that have steadily siphoned off the grocers' customers.

Like the redcoats of yesteryear, British retail giant Tesco is finding America hard to win over. Seven California grocery stores are among 12 underperforming locations nationwide to be closed by Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market in an effort to boost profitability. The stores in California — in Anaheim, Bakersfield, Baldwin Park, Fountain Valley, Fresno, Hemet and Ontario — will close within the next few weeks, along with four stores in Phoenix and one in Las Vegas, company spokesman Brendan Wonnacott said.

Starbucks Coffee Co.'s foray into juice is bearing fruit (and vegetables), with its first Evolution Fresh store now open and selling “wholesome products” in Bellevue, Wash. The Seattle coffee giant, hoping for an entryway into the burgeoning healthful lifestyle industry, bought San Bernardino-based Evolution Fresh Inc. in November for $30 million . The juice company, created by Naked Juice founder Jimmy Rosenberg, uses fresh fruits and vegetables and employs a process called high-pressure processing that produces the juice without heat to retain more nutrients and flavors.

The parent company of the Albertsons supermarket chain is closing 26 stores nationwide, including 18 in Southern California, as it tries to overcome sharp operating losses and stiff price competition from big-box rivals. Supervalu Inc. said late Wednesday that the closings are part of a decision to eliminate about 60 stores nationwide, primarily in its Albertsons and Save-A-Lot chains. Albertsons will have 228 stores in California after the closures. Among the Albertsons locations in Southern California scheduled to be closed by December are stores in Long Beach, Glendale, Northridge and Van Nuys.

Re "Ban on plastic bags OKd," Aug. 21 While it is great that West Hollywood understands the need to eliminate the tons of waste we generate each year, I don't see how eliminating plastic shopping bags helps. My grocery stores recycle old plastic bags to make their bags. I use my reusable bags most of the time but also collect enough of these already recycled bags to use at home for garbage and pet waste collection. Without these recycled bags, I would have to purchase new bags, use them once and throw them out - an expensive single-use product for me and for the environment.