Acme Markets

Acme Markets' appeal of a Chester County Court of Common Pleas decision in June has at least temporarily blocked a West Chester developer from building a supermarket directly across from the Acme in the New Garden Shopping Center. While John J. Ciccarone is barred from working on the supermarket portion of the project, he said last week he plans to begin construction within the next few months of 18,000 square feet of stores, two restaurants and a bank on a parcel adjacent to the supermarket.

Future of the city tops agenda at Bar meeting Will Philadelphia enjoy economic vitality in the years ahead? Should additional wage tax reductions be enacted? Can the city really reinvent itself for the future? These are the questions that will be examined by City Councilman Michael Nutter, Chamber of Commerce Chairwoman Judith M. von Seldeneck and Center City District Executive Director Paul R. Levy during a program sponsored by the Philadelphia Bar Association tomorrow.

Declaring a suit to halt construction of a 76,700-square-foot shopping center in New Garden a nonsuit this week, a Chester County judge has cleared the way for building to begin as early as next week. Chester County Court Judge Lawrence E. Wood found that Acme Markets Inc. had failed to produce substantial evidence to merit a ruling in its suit filed in January against West Chester developer John J. Ciccarone and P.A.A.C. of West Chester, an investment group located in Kennett Square.

Acme Markets owner Supervalu Inc. of Minneapolis on Wednesday reported a net loss of $750 million on $8.3 billion in sales for the quarter that ended Dec.r 3, a decline from the $202 million loss on $8.7 billion recorded during the same period a year earlier. The $3.54-per-share loss for the third quarter compared with a loss of 95 cents per share a year earlier, the supermarket corporation said. The results included noncash goodwill and intangible asset impairment charges of $800 million after taxes.

Albert J. Francis, 93, of Glen Mills, a retired Acme Markets produce manager, died of heart failure Tuesday, Aug. 24, at Riddle Memorial Hospital in Media. Mr. Francis grew up as Albert Francesco in South Philadelphia until his Italian immigrant parents Americanized their name, daughter Rosemary McCarthy said. He graduated from South Philadelphia High School and then worked at an American Store. During World War II, he was a pipe fitter at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard and helped build the aircraft carrier Valley Forge and the battleships Wisconsin and New Jersey.

Plans by West Chester developer John J. Ciccarone and four other investors to build a giant supermarket in New Garden have stalled over a decade-old agreement that limits competition for Ciccarone's former tenant, Acme Markets. The project, called New Garden Plaza on Route 1, is the object of a breach- of-contract lawsuit filed in January by Acme, which contends that Ciccarone violated a pact not to build another grocery or restaurant within a half-mile of its store. Ciccarone's New Garden Plaza was approved by township supervisors in August.

Acme Markets Inc. warehouse workers in Philadelphia face uncertainty after Oct. 18, when the supermarket chain will start shipping merchandise from a huge new complex near Lancaster. "They have not had a single meeting with the people telling them what's going on," said Jim Brennan, president of the warehouse workers' union, Teamsters Local 169. On Aug. 19, Acme notified city officials that it intended to lay off at least 750 workers, close its sprawling grocery warehouse and distribution center at 59th Street and Upland Way in West Philadelphia, and reduce operations at its South Philadelphia facility at Seventh Street and Pattison Avenue.

It was Las Vegas, Valentine's week, and the headliners were big: Former President George W. Bush kicked things off as keynote speaker. Singer Paul Anka serenaded a black-tie crowd with old classics such as "Put Your Head on My Shoulder. " But the big buzz at the National Grocers Association convention was about a purveyor of sliced bologna and mouthwash: Acme Markets. Supervalu Inc., the Minnesota corporation that owns the Philadelphia area's most ubiquitous grocery chain, had said just that week that it would sell a batch of Connecticut supermarkets.

Plans to close three more Acme supermarkets in the region were greeted grimly Thursday by a top union official representing clerks employed by the embattled chain, whose corporate parent announced the cost-cutting moves a day earlier. Underperforming stores in Sharon Hill, Morrisville, and Glassboro are among 60 to be closed in the months ahead by Supervalu Inc. of Minnesota. The move follows the firing of Supervalu's previous chief executive a few weeks ago and parallels ongoing efforts by the debt-saddled corporation to find a buyer for its retail chains and wholesale-distribution business.

Judith Spires, who resigned from Acme Markets this month, has been named president and chief executive of Kings Super Markets Inc., a 25-store chain based in Parsippany, N.J., Supermarket News reported yesterday. Neither Kings, which is owned by New York private- equity firm Angelo, Gordon & Co., nor Spires could be reached for comment. Spires started her career as a checkout girl at Acme's Westmont store and returned to the area in 2006 to become president of the 124-store Malvern chain, which is owned by Supervalu Inc. of Minneapolis, Minn.