Trader Joe S Markets

Trader Joe's Co. said Tuesday that it has agreed to pay $225,000 in penalties and costs to settle a lawsuit by Orange County accusing the chain of specialty food stores of making false price comparisons on wines. Without admitting wrongdoing, the Pasadena-based company also agreed to a statewide court order that prohibits it from making the price comparisons of wine without first verifying what other stores charge and whether they even carry the same wines.

The chicken wars of 1987, the tomato sauce skirmish of 1990 and the flap over soybeans in 1992 escaped notice from much of the world, but not from Robert Berning and Douglas Rauch. Even the most obscure global food fight can disrupt the flow of Champagne from France, gnocchi from Italy and tuna from Thailand for these buyers at Trader Joe's chain of international grocery and liquor shops.

A Christmas Eve fire destroyed a Trader Joe's food store in an unincorporated area south of Pasadena. Los Angeles County Fire Department officials estimated the damage at $775,000. The fire, at South Rosemead Boulevard and Thorndale Road, began about 11:30 p.m. Monday and was extinguished about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, said fire dispatcher Ed Pickett. The cause of the fire was under investigation.

For more than 20 years, Joseph H. Coulombe has blazed his own trail as founder and operator of Trader Joe's markets. While other food markets opted for bigger stores, he kept his small. While the supermarket chains catered to the mass market, Trader Joe's set its sight on serving well-educated and well-traveled consumers.