Grocery Stores

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.

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.

Millions of Californians took part in one of the largest-ever simultaneous earthquake drills Thursday, sending students, hospital workers and even Target shoppers dropping for cover at 10:20 a.m. The annual ShakeOut drill, which attracted 8.6 million registrants in California, was intended to train the public on what to do the moment the shaking begins — dropping, covering your head, and holding on, rather than panicking and running, which would...

Members of Southern California's grocery union have ratified a new contract with Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons, bringing an end to labor negotiations that dragged on for more than eight months and brought tens of thousands of workers to the verge of a strike. The contract, which union members voted in favor of this weekend, will help ensure that workers at the big three grocery chains will stay on the job and prevent a potentially devastating blow to the state's already shaky economy.

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.

Paper or plastic? For shoppers in Los Angeles, the choice may soon be neither. Hoping to reduce the billions of grocery bags circulating throughout the city, an L.A. councilman Tuesday called for a sweeping ban on single-use paper and plastic bags. By including paper bags in the ban, the proposal goes beyond similar measures taken recently by other California cities and counties. Although L.A. County, Santa Monica and other municipalities have banned plastic bags in recent years, most have allowed stores to sell paper ones for a small fee. "With paper bags, you're still generating litter," said Councilman Paul Koretz, who introduced the motion proposing the ban. "We're taking the next step.

Reporting from Fresno -- It's hard to pinpoint exactly when Fresno State sweet corn went from best-kept secret to Central California icon. But a good bet would be this summer. The first day the corn was picked, people lined up at 6 a.m. outside the university's farm store, the same as they have for five years. This season, however, a line stretching all the way to the parking lot was there at dawn the next day. And the day after that. "It took me five times coming to get my first corn this year," said Rosemary Rendon, 76. "But I kept coming because I'm stubborn and because this corn is really something else.

In a bid to fight childhood obesity and change eating habits on the local level, First Lady Michelle Obama is expected to announce a healthful food financing initiative Wednesday that aims to draw grocery stores into so-called food desert areas in California. The $200-million program, dubbed the California FreshWorks Fund, is a joint effort by the California Endowment and a team of grocery industry groups, healthcare organizations and leading Wall Street banks. Modeled after similar funds launched in New York City and Pennsylvania, the idea for the California fund was hatched about 18 months ago by the California Endowment, a private, statewide health foundation.

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.