INTERCHANGE RULES SIGNED INTO LAW

WASHINGTON — Retail associations last week applauded President Obama's signing of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The new law will for the first time regulate debit-card interchange fees set by banks and credit-card companies. “Retailers and their customers are winners today,” said Leslie G. Sarasin, president and chief executive officer, Food Marketing Institute, in a prepared statement. “We applaud the President for signing this law to bring fairness and transparency to these fees.” “This is a dramatic first step in the fight to control rising credit- and debit-card fees and has tremendous potential for savings, but we know the fight isn't over,” said Matt Shay, president and CEO, National Retail Federation.

SAVE-A-LOT UNVEILS NEW PARTNERSHIP

ST. LOUIS — Save-A-Lot here last week announced a partnership with an established Houston grocer to operate six former Save-A-Lot stores in South Texas under a co-branded format known as El Ahorro Save-A-Lot. The new company, Adventure Supermarkets, represents “a new business model” for Save-A-Lot, Bill Shaner, president and chief executive officer of Save-A-Lot, said in a statement. “Combining Mr. Ortega's local insights with the power of the Save-A-Lot network of stores and exclusive-label expertise will enhance our ability to provide our Hispanic customers in this part of the country with the products and services they need and want.” Save-A-Lot is a division of Supervalu, Minneapolis.

RETAILERS WIN RALPHS' PICKET APPEAL

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In what attorneys called a “huge win for retailers in the Golden State,” a California Court of Appeal has preserved the right of retailers to restrict union picketing on their properties. The ruling by a three-judge panel overturned a previous Superior Court ruling in a dispute between Kroger Co.'s Ralphs Grocery Co. and United Food and Commercial Workers Local 8. The suit was filed by Kroger in 2008 after UFCW representatives relentlessly picketed a nonunion FoodsCo store in Sacramento operated by Ralphs. The panel agreed with Kroger's contention that parts of a state law regarding picketing violated the First and 14th amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Jacques Loveall, president of UFCW Local 8, in a statement decried an “activist and radical” ruling.

KROGER EXPANDS FOODSCO IN OAKLAND

OAKLAND, Calif. — Kroger Co.'s FoodsCo division is planning to open stores in two East Oakland neighborhoods by 2012, local reports said. The stores are being planned in underserved areas of East Oakland that have been without local grocery stores for 20 years, reports said, citing Oakland's Economic Development Agency. FoodsCo is a price-impact warehouse-style banner Kroger operates in California.

WHOLESALER INDICTED ON FRAUD

NEWARK, N.J. — A federal grand jury here has indicted the former owner and chief executive of Capitol Investments Inc. for allegedly leading an $880 million Ponzi scheme related to a bogus grocery wholesaling business. Nevin K. Shapiro, founder and president of Capitol, told investors he ran a grocery diverting business that purchased low-priced groceries in one region and resold them in another where prices were higher, according to the charges. He produced fake sales reports and financial statements, and used investments to fund a “lavish lifestyle” in Miami, federal authorities said.