Bucks Entrepreneur’s Raw Foods Flying Off The Shelves

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Bucks County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

With annual sales of his raw-foods snacks closing in on $20 million and investment experts suggesting that could rise to at least $100 million in the not-too-distant future, Doylestown-based organi-preneur Brad Gruno’s lesson is indisputable:

Mothers have been on to something all along with their “Eat your vegetables!” harping.

Gruno was smart enough to build a business off it – one that started in 2009 with a sales table at a Bucks County farmers’ market and now has shelf space in major markets such as Whole Foods and Wegmans and many specialty grocers.

His Brad’s Raw Foods product line has expanded from raw tortilla chips made of a dehydrated mixture of fresh vegetables, flaxseed, and buckwheat groats to include seasoned sprouted seeds, dried onion rings, and what is now responsible for 70 percent of sales: six flavors of crunchy kale.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/business/small_business/20140414_Bucks_entrepreneur_s_raw_foods_flying_off_the_shelves.html#CZoDDDCY6dGf0bOx.99

Carjacking Suspect Has History Of Stealing Lobsters, Fine Meats

Image via Wikipedia

Editor’s note:  This is what’s known as having champagne taste and a beer pocketbook/wallet with a healthy dose of stupid thrown in for good measure!  Lock him up and thrown away the KEY!

It didn’t take long for employees at a Weis Kings Market in west Allentown to realize they had a lobster thief in their grocery store Thursday afternoon.

Charles A. Shumanis III, who was arrested Thursday after police say he carjacked a man in South Whitehall following a botched retail theft attempt at the supermarket, had been charged the week before with stealing more than $160 worth of lobsters from the store, according to court documents.

Hours after allegedly stealing from the market Feb. 23, Shumanis went to the Wegmans, 3900 Tilghman St., where he took $150 worth of meat, according to court documents.

Shumanis already had four prior retail theft convictions, making the fifth and sixth retail theft charges on Feb. 23 felonies, police said. He added a seventh charge Thursday, to go along with more serious charges of carjacking a man and dragging him 50 feet in the Friendly’s Restaurant parking lot in South Whitehall.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-carjacking-suspect-history-stealing-lobsters-me-20120302,0,7455738.story

Wegman’s Tells PLCB To Remove Their Wine Kiosks

All is not peachy on the automated wine kiosk front.  The PLCB has placed wine vending machines around the state, in various locations.  This was done to help sell more wine and to offer customers a more convenient place, besides the dreaded Wine & Spirits store, to purchase their vino.

Wegmans asked the PLCB to remove all 10 kiosks from their stores in the next 30 days citing too many customer complaints and malfunctioning equipment.  Wegmans said in some cases the problems were harmful to their business.  The kiosk pilot program started about one year ago.

But have no fear…it looks like Wally World is lining up to stick some wine machines in their stores as soon as this summer.  Can you imagine the Walmart photos these will generate??  I cringe in anticipation!

Another Wegman’s Coming To The 422 Corridor

Not long after the Collegeville, PA Wegman’s opened, a second Wegman’s was proposed and approved for King of Prussia, PA in the Village at Valley Forge development, which runs along North Gulph Road.

The former Valley Forge Golf Course, nestled between 422 and North Gulph Road, will be the new home for the area’s second Wegman’s grocery store.  The store will be 107,000 square feet and situated on more than a hundred acres on the property.  A 2012 opening date is projected.

Reconstruction of existing roads in the area will take place to accommodate the traffic entering and exiting the development in the coming months.

There are six Wegman’s stores open in the Philadelphia region.  The Lehigh Valley has three stores in Allentown, Bethlehem and Nazareth.

Limerick Acme To Close In February

Acme closed their Collegeville Shopping Center store and moved it to 31 W. Ridge Pike, next to the new Court At Upper Providence Shopping Center, a few years ago.  Now it would seem the “new store” is under performing due to competition from Giant, Target and Wegman’s and will close by the end of February.

With the departure of Acme from Ridge Pike, the closest Acme stores within a 20 mile radius of zip code 19468 are Phoenixville, Norristown, Lansdale and King of Prussia.

The Wayne Acme is also on the chopping block along with three stores in New Jersey and one in Maryland.

Another big empty building!  Ironically, the old store in Collegeville was doing much better!  Just proves the grass is not always greener!