• Wall Street Journal, Wednesday, January 13, 2010 10:30 AM

Mirroring moves by other grocers, Supervalu is reducing the number of items it offers per store by as much as 25%, Timothy W. Martin reports. It will feature store-brands more prominently and also, of course, expects to extract lower prices from vendors.

Brand names won't be disappearing from the shelves but the wide variety of available sizes of toilet tissue, to cite one curious example, will be trimmed, according to CEO Craig Herkert. Supervalu operates Jewel, Albertsons, Save-A-Lot and Cub Foods and several other chains.

"I don't think the consumer is going to look at it and say we've taken any choice away; in fact, I think ... the consumer will look at better choice," Herkert says. (As Orwellian as that may sound, 'twas Robert Browning  who first informed us "less is more.")

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