Smith S Food Drug Centers

The last time it did business in Southern California, Smith's Food & Drug Centers got run out of town. Now Salt Lake City-based Smith's is one of the hottest supermarket chains in the West, and it's coming back to the Southland with a score to settle. Will Smith's be a winner its second time around with its new king-size stores, where shoppers will be able to buy everything from concert tickets to takeout Chinese food to cold tablets?

Salt Lake City-based Smith's Food & Drug Centers Inc. said it will sell or lease seven of its Southern California stores, including three in Orange County, to American Stores Properties Inc. Smith's closed the stores in January, abandoning the Southern California market in the face of stiff competition from more established competitors like Lucky Stores and Ralphs Grocery. American Stores, also based in Salt Lake City, owns the Lucky chain.

Employees from the city's Jobs Plus office are planning to set up a large job tent in October and assist Smith's Food and Drug Centers in recruiting workers for its mid-November opening. Officials said they expect up to 3,000 applicants vying for perhaps 100 openings. Some available positions include cashiers, checkers, baggers, seafood clerks, bakers and customer service clerks. Job applications will be distributed Oct.

In another supermarket retrenchment, Smith's Food & Drug Centers, a Salt Lake City-based grocery chain that entered the competitive Southern California market five years ago, confirmed Monday that it will pull out of the region by selling or closing its 34 stores. The operators of Southern California's three largest chains--Ralphs, Vons and Lucky--moved quickly to divide up the pieces by announcing plans to acquire at least 16 of the stores in separate deals.

New Smith's Store: Smith's Food & Drug Centers has opened a new market in La Habra, its 17th since re-entering the Southern California market last year. The new store is at Beach Boulevard and Imperial Highway. Other Smith's stores in Orange County are in Fullerton, Garden Grove, Stanton and Yorba Linda. As it has done in other communities, the chain has started a recycling program in conjunction with local schools. The store opening also created 95 jobs that drew 2,200 applicants.

City officials have cleared the way for the 118,000-square-foot Smith Food & Drug Centers Inc. business complex to locate in the city after settling a dispute over construction workers' wages that had stalled the project. In last week's settlement with the developers, Tratel Centers, the city agreed to allow the company to pay 75% of its construction labor costs at union scale. City law generally requires a developer to pay all of its construction orkers at the current wage scale.

Developers of a controversial Smith's Food and Drug Center will meet with residents, the City Council and Planning Commission at a workshop next week to present alternative proposals for the project. Council members, at their meeting Tuesday, scheduled the workshop after a representative for Smith's and project developer Birtcher Niguel asked for an opportunity to get public comment on drawings of ideas being considered by the two companies.

Although skeptical that an alternative proposal can win their approval, City Council members are giving developers of a controversial Smith's Food and Drug Center a chance to redesign the project. The council voted unanimously Tuesday night to give the developers until Aug. 3 to devise a plan that fits with the city's vision for a mixed-used development for the 13-acre property on the northwest corner of Aliso Creek and La Paz roads.

Pizza by Smith's: Smith's Food King, the market that offers everything from a dry cleaner to Chinese takeout under one roof, now is pitching pizzas. The La Habra store, part of a chain based in Salt Lake City, has its own pizzeria at which the cheese pies can be served up with any of 14 toppings in seven minutes. For customers who miss phoning the pizza shop for delivery, the store has a telephone in its video-rental department so that customers can place their orders.

Store Dedication: The first of what is likely to become several massive Smith's Food & Drug Centers in Orange County will be dedicated Thursday in the Fullerton Marketplace. The stores are designed as one-stop centers where shoppers will find everything from light bulbs to take-out Chinese food in 21 departments. Smith's stores are about twice the size of an average supermarket. The new Smith's store in Fullerton will open to the public Saturday.

Smith's Food & Drug Centers, a Salt Lake City-based grocery chain that entered the tough Southern California market five years ago, is now looking for a way out after failing to make much headway, industry sources say. Smith's has approached local competitors looking for buyers for its 34 stores in the region, and last week leased its state-of-the-art distribution center in Riverside to Ralphs Grocery Co. The facility was built to supply 60 stores, a total Smith's never achieved.

Developers of a controversial Smith's Food and Drug Center will meet with residents, the City Council and Planning Commission at a workshop next week to present alternative proposals for the project. Council members, at their meeting Tuesday, scheduled the workshop after a representative for Smith's and project developer Birtcher Niguel asked for an opportunity to get public comment on drawings of ideas being considered by the two companies.

Although skeptical that an alternative proposal can win their approval, City Council members are giving developers of a controversial Smith's Food and Drug Center a chance to redesign the project. The council voted unanimously Tuesday night to give the developers until Aug. 3 to devise a plan that fits with the city's vision for a mixed-used development for the 13-acre property on the northwest corner of Aliso Creek and La Paz roads.

Two workers in the meat department at Smith's Food and Drug Center on Orangethorpe Avenue have hepatitis, but there is no health risk to the public, according to an ongoing investigation by the Orange County Health Care Agency. The two workers have been taken off the job, along with three other workers who are being tested for infectious hepatitis, according to Rick Greenwood, deputy director of public health.

Pizza by Smith's: Smith's Food King, the market that offers everything from a dry cleaner to Chinese takeout under one roof, now is pitching pizzas. The La Habra store, part of a chain based in Salt Lake City, has its own pizzeria at which the cheese pies can be served up with any of 14 toppings in seven minutes. For customers who miss phoning the pizza shop for delivery, the store has a telephone in its video-rental department so that customers can place their orders.

New Smith's Store: Smith's Food & Drug Centers has opened a new market in La Habra, its 17th since re-entering the Southern California market last year. The new store is at Beach Boulevard and Imperial Highway. Other Smith's stores in Orange County are in Fullerton, Garden Grove, Stanton and Yorba Linda. As it has done in other communities, the chain has started a recycling program in conjunction with local schools. The store opening also created 95 jobs that drew 2,200 applicants.

Unionized electricians, plumbers and other workers have been handing out leaflets in front of the recently opened Smith's Food & Drug store on Katella Avenue and Beach Boulevard, to the anger of the Utah-based chain and dismay of some city officials. The leaflets charge that Smith's stores were found guilty of misleading price advertisements in Arizona and of health code violations in Nevada.