Supermarket

Author Terry Walters will be at Whole Foods Market, 50 Raymond Road, todayfrom 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. for a book signing. Walters is the author of "Clean Start," a healthy recipe book. For more information, call 860-523-8500. —Amanda Falcone

Police are looking for two men believed to have used a distraction tactic to steal cash from a Bridgeport Avenue supermarket earlier this month. Police said two men entered the Suremart, 695 Bridgeport Ave., on June 16. One man purchased $20 in lottery tickets but only paid the cashier $8 before leaving the store, police said. The cashier followed the man outside the store, where he paid the remaining $12 for his lottery tickets, police said. The second male, still inside the store, allegedly stole money from the cash register.

— The A&P; supermarket at 207 Webster Square Road will close by the end of October, company officials confirmed. It is not clear how many employees will lose their jobs since some could transfer to positions at other supermarkets, said Lauren LaBruno, a spokeswoman for A&P.; The company is closing stores as part of a series of cost-cutting moves. Company officials said in a statement that stores being closed are near others it operates, are underperforming or face real estate and cost issues.

Fire officials are investigating a fire at the A Dong Supermarket in the Shield Street Plaza. No one was injured in the fire, which was reported shortly after 7:30 a.m. It was extinguished by 7:50 a.m., said Battalion Chief Mike Yacovino. The fire appears to have started in a kitchen cooking system and spread into the building's ductwork, Yacovino said. Flames were shooting from the roof when firefighters arrived. "It looked impressive," he said. We tell you what's happening, when it happens, for FREE: Sign-up for Breaking News Mobile Text Alerts : Text NEWS, WEATHER or TRAFFIC to 37798 Subscribe to our Breaking News E-mails Try the News@3 Newsletter

Police are investigating a robbery Monday night at the Rockville Savings Bank branch in the Big Y supermarket. An undetermined amount of money was taken. Police said that around 8 p.m. a man handed a female teller a note demanding money and indicating he had a gun. No weapon was shown. Police said the man walked out of the store and escaped. The man did not approach other supermarket employees or patrons. Police said that in their interviews no other employees reported seeing the man. Police said the man was reported to be white, 5 feet 5, in his 20s and of medium build.

Tuesday was the opening day for the new Aldi discount supermarket at 511 New Park Ave. in the town's Elmwood section. The 20,000-square-foot store is the 16th that the privately owned German grocery chain has opened in Connecticut. Aldi has more than 1,000 stores in 30 states from Kansas to the East Coast, and more than 8,000 stores worldwide. The supermarket is the latest to open in a neighborhood that, for much of the past decade has lacked a large market. Elmwood is now home to a PriceRite grocery store and the A-Dong Asian grocery, both on New Britain Avenue.

Burning hay bales at the front of the Stop & Shop supermarket caused smoke to pour across the parking lot on Tuesday. The hay was part of a fall display outside the store on North Main Street. Firefighters took just a couple seconds to put out the fire. No one was injured, and the store was not evacuated. "It's a little bit of an eye-opener for us," said Peter Mahoney, acting store manager, adding that the store will "rethink" its fall display. Fire officials said the fire will be investigated.

A town official has contacted Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. about settling several lawsuits filed against the planning and zoning commission because of its refusal to approve a new store, sources involved in the litigation said Tuesday. David Greene, a spokesman for Stop & Shop, would not comment about the contact but gave the company's position in the dispute. "We are always interested in exploring avenues of communication that would eventually lead to a resolution of issues allowing us to build our proposed supermarket in South Windsor," Greene said.

Waldbaum's Foodmart, the only supermarket on the west side of the city, is being closed because it is too small to compete with the bigger stores and the property is too small to accommodate an expansion, a company spokesman said. The 22,000-square-foot store, which opened in the 1970s, will close Nov. 20, according to Richard DeSanta, vice president of corporate affairs for the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. A&P; acquired the Waldbaum's chain in 1986. DeSanta said the Divinity Street store's 35 employees have all been offered positions at the company's 37 other stores in Connecticut.

Plans to build a Big Y supermarket on Tolland Turnpike were unanimously approved by the planning and zoning commission Monday despite complaints by neighbors that the project would create traffic problems. The commission unanimously approved the application for a special exception submitted by Robert Beckenstein, president of Beckenstein Enterprises, to build the 102,460- square-foot retail plaza. Before the vote, commission member Wilfred Maxwell said he supported the plan.

BRISTOL - Police who staged a "Cop on the Roof" fundraiser at a city supermarket earlier this month collected about $5,100 for the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Lt. Jack Michaud reported. Michaud and Officer Jace Deluca spent a weekend camping on the roof of Stop & Shop on Route 6, while officers on the sidewalk below collected donations from shoppers. "It was tough standing on that roof with the sun burning down," Michaud said. "At night, the wind was crazy.

After being vacant for a year, the former Shaw's supermarket in New Haven opened Friday as a Super Stop & Shop. "I was at Stop & Shop this morning at 7:30 and I was surprised to see so many people there — a lot of people in wheel chairs and motorized scooters," said Linda Townsend-Maier, director of the Greater Dwight Development Corp., which owns the property at 150 Whalley Ave. "A lot of elderly people came in to get a few things. It made me feel real good. That means a lot of them walked.

EAST HARTFORD — Police are investigating an armed robbery reported shortly after 9 p.m. Monday at the Stop & Shop supermarket on Silver Lane. Police said a lone gunman approached the customer service area, displayed the handgun and demanded cash. He then fled on foot. A camera caught images of the man and those are expected to be released Tuesday. No injuries were reported.

Big Y Foods Inc. said Tuesday it will take over a vacated ShopRite at the Townline Square shopping center in Meriden. The 55,000-square-foot supermarket at North Colony Road and South Broad Street was occupied by ShopRite until it relocated to Wallingford last year. The Meriden store, scheduled to open in late spring after renovations are completed, is expected to employ between 150 and 175 people. Big Y said the $5 million project will also provide construction opportunities for local contractors.

HARTFORD — From a distance, Jay Hibbard has been watching the emotional, never-ending debate on Connecticut's ban on the Sunday sales of alcohol in supermarkets and package stores. As the eastern regional vice president for a national liquor manufacturers association in Washington, D.C., Hibbard came to Hartford on Tuesday for a key public hearing in an attempt to persuade legislators to lift the ban. After more than seven hours of testimony by both sides, lawmakers adjourned the hearing without a decision.

One person came with questions about education funding; another wanted to talk about civil liberties. But most of the people who stopped by to see U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy Thursday afternoon at a local supermarket came simply to show their support in the wake of a shooting rampage at a similar event in Arizona last week that killed six people and injured 13, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. “How are you holding up?” asked Tracy Smith of Avon, who stopped by to say hi to Murphy with her 5-year-old son, Jacob.

A fire erupted in the produce storage room of the Stop & Shop supermarket on Hartford Turnpike early Sunday, damaging the area and causing the store to delay its opening by almost four hours, officials said. Vernon Fire Chief Robert Kelley said the fire started about 2:30 a.m. When firefighters arrived, the sprinkler system had extinguished most of the flames. Firefighters were surrounded by smoke in the area, but there were no injuries reported. About 12 people were working in the store when the fire started.

Several pocketbooks were reported stolen from shopping carts in local grocery stores this week and police are warning shoppers to hold onto their purses or keep a close eye on them. Police received several reports of purse thefts Monday and were questioning suspects Tuesday night. "While people are looking on the shelves for items, they [the thieves] are stealing the pocketbooks from carriages," police Sgt. Todd Schaller said. The thieves then used ATM cards to remove cash from the victims' bank accounts, Schaller said.

Author Terry Walters will be at Whole Foods Market, 50 Raymond Road, todayfrom 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. for a book signing. Walters is the author of "Clean Start," a healthy recipe book. For more information, call 860-523-8500. —Amanda Falcone

With a growing list of future construction projects and the opening of long-awaited new supermarkets, the town's Elmwood section is showing signs of life and growth. Elmwood has struggled to revive itself after many of its manufacturing businesses closed in the 1980s, but town officials say it's now on the rebound. "It's really coming into its own," said Mayor Scott Slifka. After 10 years of not having a supermarket in close driving distance, residents now have three chain grocery stores to choose from, Stop & Shop, Price Rite and Aldi.