Brits are pushing aside traditional strawberries and raspberries in favour of more home-grown native hedgerow berries this Summer.  Blackcurrants and redcurrants are the ‘currant’ favourites with sales of redcurrants increasing by over 264% since last year and blackcurrants over 120%.  Even gooseberries are getting in on the act, with a greater demand for the plump British berries with an increase of over 15% in the last four weeks.

Waitrose Buyer for soft fruits, Nicki Baggott says, ‘The increase in sales of forgotten British berries can be put down to a warm summer, meaning more Al Fresco dining, which encourages Brits to create a variety of lighter dishes with fresh berries.  We’ve seen an increase in customer demand for soft fruits, ever since we launched pineberries at Waitrose in April this year.  The customer is looking for the taste of something traditionally British, and of course, summery when the weather is this good.’

Sainsbury's has announced that it has up to 115 opportunities on its graduate and placement programmes for the coming year. The retailer has up to 65 places available on its graduate scheme with a further possible 50 places available on the company's two paid placement schemes which are either a year long or eight weeks over the summer.

There are 15 different schemes on the Sainsbury's graduate programme. Of these the Retail scheme is the largest, reflecting Sainsbury's ambitious plans to grow its store portfolio by adding 15% new shop floor space by March 2011.

ORTEC has announced that Tesco, the UK's biggest retailer and the world's third largest grocery retailer, has selected ORTEC Advanced Planning Software to further optimize its supply chain.

The software will help to drive down operational costs, ensure that the supply chain operations are optimized and also help to deliver the long-term commitment of Tesco to continuously optimize efficiency, increase resource utilization and drive down carbon emissions.

Publix customers will place their orders online by visiting www.publix.com/curbside. Once on the site, customers will select their desired pickup location, specified 30-minute pickup window and proceed with order placement. Customers will see an estimated total as weights for produce, meat and deli items will fluctuate. Sale prices for the store that are effective the day of pickup will be honored. Payment is tendered at the time of pickup. No minimum order amount is required and a $7.99 service fee per Curbside order will be added to the total. As an introductory offer, the $7.99 service fee is waived for first time users. The site will allow for multiple shopping lists to be saved under the customer sign-in for subsequent purchases.