Safeway

TUCSON, Ariz. - Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords returned to the scene of the shooting that wounded her and killed six people two years ago, urging senators Wednesday to pass background checks for gun purchases. It was her first public event at the site since the rampage. Giffords, who is still recovering from her injuries, spoke fewer than 20 words in the parking lot of the Safeway grocery store in her hometown of Tucson in a brief but emotional call for stricter gun control measures.

Giant Food Stores announced Thursday it will acquire 16 Genuardi's Family Markets across the Philadelphia area in a $106 million deal that will significantly alter the supermarket landscape in the region by giving surging Giant an even greater profile in the highly competitive suburbs. The transaction, expected to close over the next six months, would transfer ownership of the stores from Safeway Inc., and convert them all to Giant, whose operations are headquartered in Carlisle, Pa. The stores affected are on York Road in Jamison, Eagle Road in Newtown, Flowers Mill Road in Langhorne, County Line Road in Chalfont, Boot Road in West Chester, East Baltimore Pike in East Marlborough, East Lancaster Avenue in St. Davids, Baltimore Pike in Springfield, Wynnewood Road in Wynnewood, Bethlehem Pike in Flourtown, Huntingdon Pike in Huntingdon Valley, Bethlehem Pike in Spring House, South Henderson Road in King of Prussia, Norristown Road in Maple Glen, Susquehanna Road in Roslyn, and Sumneytown Pike in North Wales.

Gustavo Ramirez, 17, has aspirations of someday opening his own tattoo parlor. The soft-spoken sophomore at Overbrook High School in Pine Hill never expected his first client to be a life-size fiberglass cow. Ramirez is one of nine finalists - and the only one from New Jersey - selected by a panel of judges from 9,200 entrants nationwide in the seventh annual Lucerne Art of Dairy Contest, an art competition sponsored by Safeway Inc., the grocery...

The sale of semipostals has proved so successful that the U.S. Postal Service this month issued its third such stamp. The new semipostal will benefit the fight against domestic violence. The stamp, like the two previous semipostals, will not be printed with a denomination. It will sell for 45 cents, with 8 cents earmarked for the Department of Health and Human Services to support programs combating domestic violence. In virtually every country, semipostals are printed with two numerals; the first is the postal fee followed by a plus sign, while the second is the amount for a specific charity.

Supermarkets General Corp., the operator of the Pathmark supermarket and drugstore chain, has received a $1.6 billion takeover bid from the Dart Group, the companies announced yesterday. The Woodbridge, N.J., retailer said the $41.75-per-share offer was "unsolicited" and that it had retained Shearson Lehman Bros. Inc. to advise its board of directors on the proposal. Dart Group, based in Landover, Md., said a company representative had met with Supermarkets General officials in recent weeks.

There are two slow-motion revolutions going on in Germany today. East Germans want the freedom of West Germans. And West Germans want the freedom of Americans. After more than 40 years of totalitarism, East Germans are trying to fight for basic political rights - freedom of speech and assembly, freedom to travel or emigrate. Across the border in West Germany, after more than 40 years of the benevolent regulation that characterizes most European democracy, West Germans are struggling for lifestyle rights - things like the freedom to shop at night.

WASHINGTON - Salmonella has been found in a New Mexico plant that produces nut butters for retailer Trader Joe's and several other large national grocery chains, the Food and Drug Administration said Friday. The Trader Joe's peanut butter is now linked to 35 salmonella illnesses in 19 states - most of them in children under the age of 10. Washington state health officials have also confirmed the presence of salmonella in an opened jar of the Trader Joe's peanut butter found in a victim's home, the FDA said.

The Port of Philadelphia will gain a shipping line when Horizon Lines Inc. moves its northeast terminal operations from Elizabeth, N.J., in April. The Charlotte, N.C.-based shipping company said Wednesday that the Philadelphia port would handle cargo arriving from its operations in Puerto Rico. Richard Rodriguez, general manager of Horizon's Puerto Rican operations, said in a statement that the company expected the relocation to produce "significant advantages," including faster transit and turnaround times, and expedited cargo inspections.

Martha Burk thinks war with Iraq would modify her planned protest during the Masters. But Burk, chair of the National Council of Women's Organizations, said yesterday she still intends to protest April 12 at Augusta National - unless the all-male club allows female members or postpones the tournament. "If the country is at war it will alter the tone and possibly the size of any action that we bring," Burk told the Associated Press. "I want to stress that whether or not we are there is 100 percent the club's call.

Sheila Kerns is just the kind of food shopper supermarket operators worry about - or should. Kerns was shopping yesterday for a few grocery items at what's known in the food trade as an "alternative channel," meaning convenience stores, chain drugstores and discounters that sell many of the same items as supermarkets. These stores - led in the Philadelphia region by Wawa - are gaining an increasing share of consumers' dollars. "I come here more because of the convenience," said Kerns, who was with her 2-year-old daughter, Ava, in a new Wawa near her home in Glen Mills, Delaware County.