Distributors

Subaru of America Inc., the American-operated automobile import company based in Cherry Hill, has announced that it would purchase another of its independent distributors, the second such acquisition this month and the third since June. Subaru announced late Wednesday that it had reached agreement to purchase Subaru Inter-Mountain of Aurora, Colo., one of the company's biggest independent distributorships, with exclusive distribution rights for Subaru vehicles and parts in the Rocky Mountain region.

Controversy may surround The Passion, the Mel Gibson film about the final 12 hours in the life of Jesus, but that hasn't stopped potential distributors from showing interest in the project. With more than a half-dozen suitors, The Passion could reach theaters before Easter, as originally planned, a source close to Gibson's Icon Productions said yesterday. "They may want to get it out for a week before New Year's for the Academy Awards," the source added. No deal has been signed, and none of the distribution companies has seen the finished movie, which is in post-production.

Subaru of America Inc., the Cherry Hill-based automobile importer, announced yesterday that it had agreed to buy one of its independent regional distributors, the second such acquisition since June. The agreement, which is expected to be final at the end of the month, will give Subaru of America exclusive ownership of seven of its 15 regional distributorships, comprising 43 percent of its $1.94 billion in annual sales, said Daniel J. Dalton, director of investor relations at Subaru.

Year after year, the reports coming out of Subaru of America Inc. in Cherry Hill have painted a picture of a company enjoying unqualified success as new achievements and milestones piled up like awards in a high school trophy case. But a new picture is beginning to emerge - one that portrays a company beset by infighting and bitter feuding - and it is casting a shadow on an organization that likes to describe itself as a "team" and a "family. " On July 7, four regional Subaru distributors, who represent 269 Subaru car dealerships in 24 states and accounted for $695 million in sales in 1986, filed suit against Subaru in a case involving allegations of fraud, price fixing and antitrust violations.

Jack & Jill Ice Cream, the Philadelphia-based ice cream distributor whose products tend to cause the expansion of its customers, is poised to expand itself. Last week, the company bought two other ice cream distributors and signed a lease with an option to buy a larger headquarters in Bensalem. The company, whose vending trucks are familiar to three generations of Philadelphia children, is one of the nation's largest street vendors of ice cream. The company also serves supermarkets, convenience stores, neighborhood groceries, institutions and military bases.

The life of an independent filmmaker is not unlike that of Sisyphus in Hades, condemned to push a rock up a mountain only to see it roll back down each time he got near the top. So it is for Philadelphia director Eugene Martin. Over the last 18 months he has received raves for Edge City, his hip-hop West Side Story inspired, in part, by the 1994 beating death of Eddie Polec in Fox Chase. But he can't get it into theaters. Making things more galling is that Martin's exceptional anatomy of a murder is the rare movie about youth violence to draw praise from both teens and police commissioners.

John and Stacy Hanrahan of Springfield were looking to make some money in their spare time when they signed on as Amway distributors in January 1992. But seven months in the Amway network made them poorer rather than richer, they say in a suit filed last week in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia. Their income from selling Amway products and recruiting more distributors didn't cover the cost of motivational tapes they were badgered to buy and sales rallies they paid to attend, according to the suit.

Phillies pitcher J.C. Romero is suing the makers and distributors of the over-the-counter dietary supplement that he claims caused his positive test for a banned substance last summer. In a 27-page suit filed yesterday in Superior Court in Camden County, the suspended reliever accused the makers and distributors of 6-OXO Extreme with negligence, intentional misrepresentation, and consumer fraud. Romero bought the supplement at a nutrition store in Cherry Hill last summer. He tested positive for the banned performance-enhancer androstenedione Aug. 26. Androstenedione was not listed on the supplement's list of ingredients.

When the state legislature first legalized slot machines, it wanted manufacturers of the one-armed bandits to funnel local sales through Pennsylvania middlemen. That was supposed to help create jobs. Then, politically connected people started showing up on some firms' letterheads. An outcry ensued, and now the state Senate has voted to eliminate what critics called political pork. But the 18 companies who got licenses to sell slot machines may not be stiff out of luck. As part of a measure to finance gambling-addiction programs, the state Senate has proposed a $500 tax on every slot machine sold in the state, with part of the proceeds used to compensate those Pennsylvania firms.

Georgie Woods, the self-proclaimed Man with the Goods, now is "the snacks with the goods. " The "Georgie Woods" brand of potato chips, named after the popular - and sometimes controversial - radio personality, have been doing "great," said C.V. Wilson, president of C&S Inc., the snack wholesaler. The South Philadelphia firm has been selling 60,000 one-ounce bags of Georgie Woods snacks a week, Wilson said. The potato chips - in regular, barbecue and hot varieties - and a puffed cheese curl are in some 1,000 retail outlets, after being introduced two months ago, Wilson said.

After years of working at a bank, Nancy Dillett of Meadowbrook, Montgomery County, lost her job in the late 1990s when her company was taken over by a rival. She spent the next decade raising her two children as a stay-at-home mom, then rejoined the workforce 18 months ago - as a retail clerk in a State Store. On Wednesday, Dillett, 55, who works at the liquor store in Jenkintown, told a panel of Democratic legislators that the state House's recent passage of a bill to phase out the State Stores left her fearful of finding herself without work once more.

PetroChoice Holdings Inc., a Bucks County lubricant distributor, has purchased Craft Oil Corp. of Avoca, Pa. for an undisclosed sum, said Shane O'Kelly, the chief executive of PetroChoice. It was the fourth acquisition this year by PetroChoice, which was founded in 1969 in Bedford County and has been based in Bristol since it acquired Loos & Dilworth Inc. in 2009. PetroChoice provides petroleum-based lubes and services in the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest Regions.

Amway, short for "American Way," was founded by Richard DeVos and Jay Van Andel in 1959. Friends from Grand Rapids Christian High School, the two had started out selling nutritional supplements. Based on the principles of self-reliance and financial independence, the company remains privately owned, with the founders' children all involved in the business. Under the umbrella of Alticor Corporate Enterprises, Amway now reports having three million distributors worldwide. The products are not found in malls or on retail shelves, except in the employees' company store at Amway's world headquarters in Ada, Mich.

WHEN TATTLE learned there were organizations unhappy with their appearances in the new Denzel Washington movie, "Flight," we assumed it was either an airline or the pilots union - Denzel plays a hero pilot who's also a drunk and drug addict. The aggrieved parties, however, are Anheuser-Busch and the distributor of Stolichnaya vodka. Anheuser-Busch said that it has asked Paramount Pictures to obscure or remove the Budweiser logo from the film, which at one point shows Denzel's character drinking the beer while behind the wheel.

The calls for overhauling Pennsylvania's byzantine liquor laws have grown ever louder. But Philadelphia tavern owner Earl Martin fears what he is hearing is a last call for a big swig of his business. Like tavern owners across the state, Martin counts on take-out beer sales for a significant share of his revenue at Fibber McGee's Pub in Bridesburg. The booze business in Pennsylvania is peculiar. Beer isn't available at state liquor stores. Under current law, distributors can sell only by the case or keg; other take-out outlets are restricted to 192 ounces.

Pamela J. Gilchrist, 67, of Ivyland, who operated a health and nutrition business from her home for 31 years, died of brain cancer Thursday, Nov. 10, at home. Mrs. Gilchrist established Gilchrist Enterprise in 1980 as a distributor for Shaklee Corp. The firm's products include nutritional supplements, weight-management products, and beauty and household products. On her website, Mrs. Gilchrist explained how she got started in the business. In 1979, she was a stay-at-home mom when a friend gave her a sample of Shaklee's Basic-H, an organic cleaner.

DELAWARE BIDEN CHARGING U.S. Vice President Joe Biden is collecting $2,200 a month for the Secret Service to rent a cottage he owns so agents can be near one of the VIPs they are sworn to protect. Records show that Biden has collected more than $13,000 since April on the cottage in Greenville, a wealthy Wilmington suburb, and is eligible for up to $66,000 before the contract expires in 2013. Agency spokesman Edwin Donovan says simply, "It's a rental property so we pay rent there.

Airgas Inc. said Monday that it bought a Bloomington, Ind., producer and distributor of dry ice and carbon dioxide for an undisclosed sum. The Indiana firm, Pain Enterprises Inc., has 140 employees and annual revenues of about $33 million. Its customers include the food and beverage industry, hospitals, and industrial and chemical manufacturers Airgas, of Radnor, is the largest U.S. distributor of industrial, medical and specialty gases, and other products such as welding equipment and supplies.

Albert N. Kass, 92, of Media, a retired electronics company owner, died Thursday, Dec. 2, at Bryn Mawr Hospital. In 1959, Mr. Kass established Kass Electronics Distributors. The firm, located in Havertown and later in Drexel Hill, supplied parts to local radio and television stations. The business had spanned the technological revolution from tubes to transistors and ultimately to computer chips by the time he sold it in 1987, son Spence said. Mr. Kass grew up in the Bronx borough of New York City.

JENKINS TWP. - One of Northeast Pennsylvania's largest wholesale beer distributors will close in September, a spillover effect of the 2008 merger of Miller and Coors brewing companies. United Beverage of NEPA in Jenkins Township, Luzerne County, is selling its beer brands. Miller, St. Pauli Girl and Verdi are being sold to LT Verrastro in Scranton; Yuengling and Rolling Rock are going to Northeast Eagle in Pittston; and Genesee, Pabst, Straub and Dos Equis are being dealt to Banko Beverage in Allentown.