Free Republic

A Maryland county is proposing assigning days that people are allowed to go to grocery and convenience stores based on what letter their last name begins with. Calvert County’s voluntary plan would limit people’s shopping to once every five days. The Hill reports that under the plan, A-C last names can shop on dates ending with 0 and 5, D-G names shop on dates ending with 1 and 6, H-L names go on dates ending with 2 and 7, M-R names can shop on dates ending with 3 and 8, and last names starting with S-Z shop on dates ending...

... Granting grocery store workers a temporary designation of first responder or emergency personnel would "ensure these frontline workers have priority access to personal protection equipment like masks and gloves," the statement reads. The groups say this is not just about employees – it's about protecting the customers they serve and our nation's food supply in general. First responders like health care workers are lacking the necessary PPE, so government officials have been working to ensure the equipment gets to those who need it the most and that supplies on conserved. ...

White House Official: Americans Should Avoid Grocery Shopping for 2 Weeks A member of the White House’s CCP virus task force is warning against going out to buy groceries or medication as the pandemic is expected to reach its apex in the next two weeks. “The next two weeks are extraordinarily important,” White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx said on April 4. “This is the moment to not be going to the grocery store, not going to the pharmacy, but doing everything you can to keep your family and your friends safe,” she warned. More than 9,500 deaths...

Business Closures Perhaps states should have to pay the overhead costs of businesses they order closed.The federal government might reimburse the states at an 80% rate. Unemployment Relief To pay 300 million people $400 per week of unemployment compensation for 10 weeks should cost about $120 billion. Spending $2 trillion is not justified. Self-Employment Tax Rebates People should be able to waive 2020 SE tax payment and get refunds of their 2017 and later year SE tax payments in exchange for 3% per year requested future SS payout reductions.The reductions should be waived if 2020 first-hand quarter personal income was...

I am in Cary, North Carolina. Here is what I just saw.Just came back from the Harris Teeter off of270 Grande Heights DrHarrison Pointe Shopping CenterCary, NC 27513This store is normally well stocked, and you never have trouble finding anything. This morning it was about 65% full. Cleaning supplies, TP, meat, milk and bread were all very low or gone. The body washes were low. There were lots of empty shelves.I was listening to the the employee at the cash register. She said there were a lot of people coming into the store and buying anywhere from $600 to $800...

Fancy grocery stores like Trader Joe's in affluent neighborhoods have lines out the door, regular stores, not so much. Different types of people handle situations differently, especially when it comes to stuff like a pandemic of a deadly Wuhan virus. But in New York City and elsewhere, an interesting pattern is emerging in regard to fancy chain grocery stores like Trader JoeÂ’s and Whole Foods which have been picked over like a carcass and still have long lines. Meanwhile, regular neighborhood chain stores have a few shortages, but are operating pretty normally.The evidence is anecdotal, but itÂ’s reflected on social...

Grocery store chain Albertsons Cos. is buying back 33 stores the government required it to sell when it acquired rival Safeway Inc. earlier this year, a highly unusual development approved by a judge on Tuesday that highlights a misfire by U.S. antitrust enforcers. Little has gone according to plan since the Federal Trade Commission allowed the Albertsons-Safeway tie-up in January on the condition that the companies sell 168 stores to preserve competition in several Western states. Without the divestitures, Albertsons would be too dominant in 130 local markets, the FTC said when it agreed to a settlement with the merging...

glaringly missing from the summary was mention of $15 million in fees paid by Burkle's Yucaipa Global Opportunities Fund since 2002

A big local story from this weekend was centered around Market Basket and its employees’ ongoing movement to re-install former CEO Arthur T. Demoulas. ... Why are employees protesting, anyway? OK, the long answer goes back decades. In the very short-term, Market Basket employees are extremely loyal to the former CEO, Demoulas, who was fired last month and replaced with Jim Gooch and Felicia Thornton. Two other executives were fired at the time, and seven more resigned the next day. A couple weeks back, employees outright demanded Demoulas be re-instated as CEO. When they didn’t hear an answer by the...

Diners will have to wait a little longer to find calorie counts on most restaurant chain menus, in supermarkets and on vending machines. Writing a new menu labeling law "has gotten extremely thorny," says the head of the Food and Drug Administration, as the agency tries to figure out who should be covered by it. The 2010 health care law charged the FDA with requiring restaurants and other establishments that serve food to put calorie counts on menus and in vending machines.

A union effort to attack the nonunion Fresh & Easy grocery chain by forcing it to put price tags on each individual item, instead of using shelf tags, has fallen short again, with an appeals court ordering the plaintiffs to pay the company's legal costs. Grocery workers' unions have battled the chain for years, picketing stores, producing attack literature and funding efforts to organize employees. Two years ago, they found a new battleground: price tags. Saying Fresh & Easy violated a little-known California law that requires a "clearly readable price" on 85 percent of packaged goods, three union officials sued...

The cost of a ban or fee on plastic bags in New Jersey would most likely be passed on to customers, representatives from Bergen County grocery stores said. The state legislature is weighing a number of bills limiting the use of plastic bags, including a proposal by Assemblyman John McKeon (D-Essex, Morris) that would impose a ban in 2017. Some stores, like Whole Foods, have already banned plastic bags. The grocery chain, which operates three stores in Bergen County, hasn't had plastic bags since 2006, Michael Sinatra, a spokesman for the company, said.

ORLANDO, Fla. -- A Central Florida supermarket chain is about to close almost all of its local stores. It's part of a move by Albertson's to end the majority of its operations in the state. For the last year or so, Albertson's has been shrinking the number of stores it operates in Florida. In Central Florida, six more stores are going to close in the next few weeks. Only a store in Altamonte Springs will remain open. Albertson's says the Florida market is not good for it, and with fuel and utility costs being what they are, it's closing all...

The typical modern American supermarket stocks 48,000 items, each battling for precious shelf space. How do they get there? Why are they arranged the way they are? Did you know that some stores use heat maps to track which aisles you walk down — and which ones you don't? Or that they put the milk at the end of the aisle so you're forced to pass a hundred other items on your way to get it? It's all done to gain an edge in a cutthroat business built on razor-thin margins. CNBC’s Tyler Mathisen goes behind the scenes for a...

OAKLAND — Oakland is close to landing a deal with a major grocery chain to open two stores in East Oakland, where supermarkets are few and far between. If the deal goes through, Kroger would open two 72,000-square-foot stores under the retailer's Foods Co. banner. The plan also includes a gas station at each site.The first store would be located at 66th Avenue and San Leandro Street, in a former cannery now owned by the Oakland Redevelopment Agency. The cannery would be demolished to make way for the new building.The second store would open in the Foothill Square Shopping Center,...

...a couple days ago, I shopped for groceries at our supermarket nearby (a grocery store that is generally known for having good quality produce). I was shocked at the amount of rotting...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-first-lady-foundation-chair-announcement-conference-call Home • Briefing Room • Speeches & Remarks The White House Office of the First Lady For Immediate Release April 01, 2010 Remarks by the First Lady, Senator Bill Frist, Mayor Cory Booker and Dr. Jim Gavin at Foundation Chair Announcement Conference Call Via telephone 11:02 A.M. EDT MRS. OBAMA: Well, good morning, everyone. This is Mrs. Obama. It’s good to have you all on the line. Thank you so much for joining us as we take another very important step forward in the work to address America’s childhood obesity crisis. This...

FBI arrests father and son shortly after the younger man returns from overseas, where he allegedly trained at an Al Qaeda camp. Lodi, CA – FBI agents have arrested a man and his father after the son allegedly admitted attending Al Qaeda training camps in Pakistan that taught participants "how to kill Americans," federal authorities said Tuesday. In a case that was still unfolding, officials confirmed that Hamid Hayat, 23, and his father, Umer, 47, were taken into custody Sunday. Authorities said late Tuesday that they were still trying to determine whether the arrests represented the discovery of a small...

D'Agostino on University Place [Manhattan] is closing after two decades. Once you could find them every few blocks or so in prime neighborhoods of Manhattan, but these days the local chain supermarket seems to be heading the way of the five-and-dime. Among the latest casualties is a D'Agostino market on University Place near Union Square, which is closing after two decades in that location. FreshDirect, the online grocery service, has about 150,000 customers and takes in about $200 million a year, much of that from Manhattan. The last A.& P. in Manhattan, at 70th Street and West End Avenue, shut...

Northern California's food fight is coming to a store near you. It's already hit Mary Thomatos, a loyal Albertsons customer until the chain closed its J Street store near her east Sacramento home last summer. Now the future of the other 25 Albertsons in the Sacramento region is in doubt after their parent company was sold last month. With Ralphs Supermarkets closing eight area stores soon, the grocery landscape is shifting so rapidly that by summer many consumers may no longer recognize their neighborhood store. Such change, those in the industry say, is something most of us should get used...