Kroger Co

Nickel-and-dimed by dollar stores and other discounters, supermarket giant Kroger Co. is test-marketing a bargains section in several of its chains, including Southern California Food 4 Less stores. A dozen of the chain's 101 Food 4 Less stores have in recent months set up a "98 cents" aisle selling household goods, cleaning aids, gadgets and plastic partyware.

Two large-scale warehouse leases valued at a total of almost $300 million have been signed in Southern California as retailers continue to set up distribution centers in enormous buildings, many of them in the Inland Empire. The most recent deals involve new facilities for appliance manufacturer Whirlpool Corp. in Riverside County and grocer Kroger Co., owner of Ralphs and Food 4 Less, in Paramount.

A U.S. appeals court ruled Wednesday that a financial mutual-aid pact among the three grocery chains involved in the Southern and Central California labor dispute last year could be challenged on antitrust grounds, a spokesman for state Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer said. Lockyer filed a lawsuit alleging that the agreement -- under which the chains shared nearly $150 million to help one another during the strike and lockout -- violated U.S. antitrust laws.

California Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer won't drop his antitrust suit against the three supermarket chains involved in the California labor dispute even if union members ratify a proposed contract and end the 20-week strike and lockout, his office said Friday. "We definitely intend to pursue the case," Lockyer spokesman Tom Dresslar said. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles over a mutual-aid pact that was entered into by Albertsons Inc., Ralphs parent Kroger Co. and Safeway Inc.

Ralphs parent Kroger Co. said Tuesday that fiscal third-quarter profit rose 30% as results continued to improve at stores in Southern California. Kroger, the largest U.S. grocer, maintained its outlook for the year but said earnings should be reduced by 4 cents to 6 cents a share in 2006 as it started to expense stock options. The Cincinnati-based company and rivals Safeway Inc. and Albertsons Inc.

Just as pressure builds on the grocery workers, the toll on the supermarkets keeps climbing by millions of dollars a day, especially now that Thanksgiving has arrived and Christmas is approaching. The holiday period represents about 10% of annual sales for the three chains in the labor dispute. The companies -- Albertsons Inc., Kroger Co.'s Ralphs and Safeway Inc.'s Vons and Pavilions -- are together losing $40 million a week in sales to a group of eight smaller chains, including Stater Bros.

The board of directors of Kroger Co. on Friday approved a restructuring plan for the grocery retailer and rejected the competing takeover bids of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Dart Group Corp. The plan, announced late in the day at the company's headquarters in Cincinnati, would pay $40 in cash plus securities valued at $8 for each of its 78.6 million shares outstanding. Shareholders would retain stock in the company, the value of which was not immediately determined.

California officials filed a lawsuit Friday against five grocery store companies, alleging that the grocers failed to properly warn consumers that the fresh and frozen fish they sell exposes consumers to mercury, a chemical known to cause cancer and reproductive harm. The state attorney general's lawsuit seeks to force the grocers to post warnings about mercury in tuna, shark and swordfish. The complaint names Kroger Co.

Kroger Co. reported Tuesday that its fiscal third-quarter profit jumped 18% on strong sales, but margins at the nation's largest traditional grocery chain were hurt by what it sells outside stores -- gasoline. Shares slid more than 5% after Cincinnati-based Kroger, operator of Ralphs and Food4Less, reported a drop in fuel margins for the quarter ended Nov. 10, and only slightly raised its earnings outlook for the full year. Kroger posted earnings of $253.

San Francisco-based Ecotality Inc., which operates the nation's second-largest network of public electric charging stations for vehicles, announced today that it plans to install 225 new chargers at Kroger Co. stores in California and Arizona. Kroger is the country's largest grocery chain, and includes Ralphs and Food 4 Less. It will invest about $1.5 million to install Ecotality's Blink charging stations and DC Fast Chargers. The installations in California will be made in Los Angeles and San Diego.