Acme Seeks To Regain Traction With Renewed Focus On Driving Sales, Upgrading Supermarkets
Recent meetings between Acme Markets and its vendors have produced hardly any spin and lots of insight on the direction of the large Mid-Atlantic retailer, which has added more supermarkets to its base than any other operator in the region since late 2015.
Such was the case again late last month when the Malvern, PA-based merchant addressed more than 250 vendor representatives at its Pennsville, NJ store to discuss the current state of Acme and how the large Albertsons unit plans on accelerating sales for the remainder of 2017.
While speakers Dan Croce, Acme’s president; Jim Perkins, executive VP -Albertsons; Kim Gray, VP-marketing and merchandising; and Sherry Caldwell, director of marketing, all exuded optimism about Acme’s growth initiatives and opportunities, there was also a consistent tone of candor in noting the internal challenges that stemmed from rapidly adding 71 former A&P stores into the fold 18 months ago, along with the current fiercely competitive overall market conditions.
Croce greeted the crowd by reviewing Acme’s new geographic footprint, which now includes 178 stores including 83 in New Jersey, 53 in Pennsylvania, 16 in Delaware, 16 in New York (all former A&P units), six in Maryland, and four in Connecticut (all former A&P stores, too). With new stores to open in Philadelphia (one on Front & Snyder and another one yet undisclosed) later this year and 23 remodelings also scheduled, improving store operations is a major priority for the chain. Additionally, Croce told the crowd that 92 center store resets – a division record – are targeted for this year and another key focus for the retailer will be delivering higher sales at Acme’s 22 “Jersey Shore” stores this summer. Acme is the dominant grocer in the four-county coastal region and, according to the youthful division president, sales have grown annually for the past decade.
Other areas which have helped Acme build revenue over the past year have been the addition of beer and wine departments (including its “Frosted Mug” pub) and the expansion of its Starbucks coffee departments.
Speaking next was Jim Perkins, former president of Acme (from 2013-2015). The extremely popular Tennessean, who is back at Acme on a temporary basis, revisited a familiar theme when he reviewed his company’s top priority: “Sales, sales and sales,” adding that building sales revolves around developing passionate associates and offering the customer an improved overall shopping experience.
In the past month, Acme has lowered many everyday retails and is reviewing its product mix with plans to add new items while more aggressively deleting slow movers. About 30 stores will be treated as “premium” units and receive a more specialized perishables and specialty-driven focus.
With Acme’s aggressive remodeling program set for 2017, Perkins said that only 10 stores remain “untouched” over the past three years. He asked the vendors for their input as well, giving out his personal cell phone number and telling them to contact him directly if they feel there are barriers hindering increased sales.
“We’re listening – come talk to us. Sometimes if you want to move more cases you have to knock down barriers. I am serious about moving our business forward,” the 34-year industry veteran stated.
Perkins also affirmed that Acme needs to “go big” with its displays while also merchandising its natural/organics/specialty items and own brands more effectively. “We will be spending more cap-ex at Acme than any other Albertsons division in 2017. We are determined to drive the top line and have a lot of plans designed to grow sales. We need your frank and honest input,” he said to the vendors in the audience.
Sherry Caldwell, another Albertsons veteran who joined the Acme team in 2013, reviewed the division’s marketing plans, including its new gas rewards partnership with Sunoco (362 participating stations). “We believe we have the best fuel program in the market,” she declared, noting that customers who utilize the program are likely to spend twice as much as non-gas rewards shoppers. Caldwell also provided the vendors with an overview of Acme’s sports marketing affiliations, its growing presence on social media and digital marketing (“My Mixx”), revealing that 25 percent more trips are made by digital coupon shoppers and that digital coupon shoppers spend 40 percent more than the average shopper on an annual basis.
Kim Gray, another Albertsons veteran of more than 30 years, closed out the leadership presentations at the two-and a-half hour event. He, too, focused on moving more cases utilizing Acme’s new formula of lower prices, increased resets, more “bonus buys” and a priority on “winning” the weekly ad. He also said that emphasis would be placed on growth and “on trend” categories such as natural/organic, hot foods and floral while disclosing that Acme will add more labor in 2017 and continue to promote “local” more aggressively.
I think the vendors know that the past 18 months have been challenging for Acme, which like all other retailers has faced overstoring, channel blurring and cautious consumer spending along with perhaps its biggest hurdle of converting more than 70 A&P stores to the Acme banner with more than 30 percent of the acquired stores in new or relatively new marketing areas. Acme chose to convert all those stores within a 10-week period which meant that only limited physical plant improvements were made.
Many of those hard lessons have been learned and now the company feels it is poised to resume the growth levels it experienced in 2013, 2014 and most of 2015. Because Croce, Perkins and their team inspire a lot of confidence and aren’t afraid to be candid and truthful, vendors are rooting for Acme, too.
Food Industry Continues To Serve As Politicians’ Economic Whipping Boy
A one-and-a-half cent per ounce tax on both sweetened and artificially sweetened beverages in the city of Philadelphia? A $15 an hour minimum wage for Baltimore City?
After years of taking it on the chin (usually in smaller doses), the past few months have served as living hell examples of what happens when needy municipalities and their politicians engineer tax plans at the expense of the grocery industry to fill a need that only marginally applies to those being penalized.
In the case of the $15 an hour minimum wage, that bill came closer to becoming law as the Baltimore City Council earlier this month approved the measure by a 11-3 margin. That bill now moves to the desk of new Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh, who had earlier expressed support for the measure, but more recently has cited the bill’s potential adverse impact on businesses.
She should be concerned. Although wages would increase on a step basis (with the $15 an hour level reached in 2022), all food retailers that operate both in Baltimore City and in other jurisdictions acknowledge that operating city stores is significantly more costly than running supermarkets in adjacent jurisdictions. In fact, the $15 an hour rate would eclipse the rate of all the surrounding counties to the City by almost $5 an hour.
*Editor’s Note: After we went to press with the March issue of Food Trade News, Pugh vetoed the legislation, citing the high expense of paying city workers a higher wage. The future of the bill is now uncertain. The city council, which will meet again April 3, would need 12 of is 15 members to vote in favor of overturning the veto. It is unclear at this point if they 12 original members of the coalition seeking the bill’s passage would all vote to for an override.
After speaking with several retailers who attended the hearing, their disappointment was obvious, claiming that it was clear in their minds that many of the council members paid little or no attention to the challenges supermarkets face operating stores in a city where population is declining, crime is increasing and the margins in their core business have never been big.
A couple of retailers noted that the comments of Councilman Bill Henry were particularly insensitive and off base.
“If your agenda is to ram the ‘need’ for $15 an hour minimum wage down our throats, from a socio-economic perspective, I intellectually understand that view, although I disagree with it from my job as a small business owner,” said one independent retailer. “But to imply that my salary is somehow connected to his agenda to raise money for the city by any means, is plain wrong and insulting. I work hard every day and have created a lot of jobs for Baltimore City residents for many years. His level of entitlement was disingenuous and his attitude was certainly disrespectful.”
Ninety miles to the north in Philadelphia, the battle has left the legislative chambers and the horror show is now playing out daily at supermarkets all over the city. While the soda tax is different from the minimum wage issue, its genesis is similar: “Our city needs more revenue (a sad reality), we can’t create enough incentive for more business opportunity, so let’s punish those businesses that have rewarded us for years with jobs and revenue.”
In this case the social/moral argument gets thrown in, too – “There’s too much obesity, so let’s target the purveyors of fat.” In my view, it is the consumers who make unenlightened choices. But, don’t blame them, because it is their right to choose – I don’t believe that law has ever been challenged, much less overturned.
Unsound logic or no logic at all? It doesn’t matter, because food retailers and beverage manufacturers and distributors are bearing the sole burden. And it’s really a big burden when you consider that beverage sales have diminished about 50 percent at Philadelphia stores since the law went into effect on January 1. More than 3,000 items are now eligible to be taxed, including flavored waters, sports drinks, teas and lemonades.
And as often happens, the lawmakers (City of Philadelphia) played the social sympathy card by noting that most of the estimated $90 million of revenue (Mayor Jim Kenney’s projection) amassed from the soda tax would be directed to pre-kindergarten related improvements.
First of all, the $90 million tax gain was a fantasy land number from the beginning. Now with soda (and related products) consumption down so significantly, the city will be fortunate to raise even half of its false estimate. And even at that, what will be the final dollar contribution to those pre-K needs?
I sense these two events (and other legislative shakedowns in other cities) have awakened the sleeping giant.
In Philadelphia, Pepsi and Canada Dry have announced job layoffs, as have several retail organizations. Expect more of the same from others as well as the diminishment of service levels to occur very soon.
Also on the docket shortly will be the industry lawsuit claiming that the soda tax is actually illegal because it creates a “double taxation” standard that conflicts with Pennsylvania’s existing 6 percent sales tax. This time, the case will be heard at the state Supreme Court level in Harrisburg, not in front of a hometown judge from the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, who dismissed the case without even a full hearing.
In Baltimore, if the minimum wage law is enacted, the results will be similar, or perhaps even more painful. After years of trying to entice supermarkets to enter its underserved municipality and fill the void of food deserts, those efforts could be quickly undone.
Trust me, it won’t be a big stretch for not only those new entries to vacate Baltimore City but other merchants that have operated stores in Baltimore City for years to significantly decrease their workforces and possibly abandon operating in the city altogether.
Baltimore, Philadelphia, DC, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco – the industry message is becoming a lot clearer – “We’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it for much longer.”
Ahold Veteran Dean Wilkinson To Head Fresh Formats’ bfresh Banner
Ahold USA’s bfresh banner (part of its Fresh Formats unit) has a new leader – company veteran Dean Wilkinson has been named bfresh lead and will oversee activities at its fledgling bfresh specialty food stores group, effective March 1, 2017.
As part of the ongoing corporate reorganization in the U.S. of parent firm Ahold Delhaize, the merchant’s Fresh Formats division now falls under the guidance of under its large Stop & Shop brand.
“Dean brings years of retail operational experience, and he will be a valuable resource as we develop new and innovative format opportunities,” said Mark McGowan, president, Stop & Shop. “We are proud of the excellent work of the Fresh Formats team as they just brought the third bfresh store to life in Somerville, MA (which opened on February 24).”
Wilkinson has been with Ahold USA for nearly 18 years and has more than 30 years of experience in the retail and wholesale grocery industry. In May 2015, Wilkinson was named senior VP of store strategy and execution for AUSA. He began his career in 1984 as a produce manager and buyer for Edwards Super Food Stores. He joined Stop & Shop in 1998 as a customer service manager and, after holding various positions of increasing responsibility, became a district manager for Stop & Shop in 2004 in New England. Wilkinson moved to the Giant/Landover division in 2006 where he held several leadership positions, including VP of sales and merchandising. He also served as director of non-perishable sales and merchandising, a position in which he was responsible for the profit and loss numbers for the dairy, frozen, grocery, natural, GM and HBC categories in all Giant stores.
Scott Miller, interim senior VP-operations at Fresh Formats, has decided to leave the company in order to pursue other opportunities.
Glenn Hogan, currently VP of regional operations for the Stop & Shop New England Division, will leave that role to join Ahold USA and replace Wilkinson in the store strategy and execution role on an interim basis.
Fresh Formats has begun its journey at a relatively slow pace beginning with its experimental 3,700 square foot Everything Fresh store, which opened in December 2014 on Walnut Street in Philadelphia (under the direction of former Ahold executive VP Bhavdeep Singh). That store served as the concept’s “laboratory.” Singh departed shortly after that debut (he is now working in India) and in September 2015, under the oversight of Miller, the revised specialty format cut the ribbon on its initial full-fledged bfresh store in Allston, MA (10,000 square feet). Two months later, an 8,600 square foot store in tony Fairfield, CT also opened. That store proved unsuccessful and closed six months later. Bfresh then expanded to Brighton, MA (only two miles from the Allston location) with a 9,700 square foot specialty unit in August 2016. Last month it opened its third store, an 11,000 square foot specialty store in Somerville, MA (only five miles from the Brighton store).
While bfresh has been slow to expand during its first 24 months of operation, it appears that new store development is accelerating. Last summer, the company announced that it will open its first bfresh bannered store in Philadelphia (Society Hill) and now additional Center City Philadelphia stores are earmarked for 2300 Bainbridge Street, Chestnut Street (University City) and North 2nd Street.
‘Round The Trade
Walgreens is apparently ready to dump even more stores to appease the Federal Trade Commission in its ongoing attempt to acquire Rite Aid. According to Bloomberg, the plan remains to sell those “conflict” stores to Fred’s, the Memphis-based regional drug chain, which originally agreed to buy 865 units from Walgreens. Having been burned by its decision to sanction Haggen’s ill-fated 168 store purchase of Von’s and Albertsons stores on the West Coast as part of the 2015 Albertsons-Safeway deal, the FTC has been very slow and cautious to approve drug chain leader Walgreens’ acquisition of number three drug retailer Rite Aid, first announced in October 2015. It seems likely that the number of divested store will now top 1,000 which would more than double Fred’s current store base of approximately 650. An SEC filing from Rite Aid earlier this month indicated that some of the Camp Hill, PA-based drug merchant’s executive team might join Fred’s if the deal is approved “in order to enhance the management team of Fred’s and provide continuity.” Meanwhile, Fred’s ain’t exactly lightin’ it up on the financial scoreboard. It recently announced that it lost $7.4 million in fiscal 2016. Wall Street is also worried that taking on the debt and physical load of 1,000 or more stores would be a risky bet. In January, Walgreens and Rite Aid extended the timeline to complete the deal until July 27 and both companies agreed to cut about $2 billion of value from the original deal. Even after all this time and effort, this is one acquisition that might be ultimately be a non-starter or worse – one that is completed with potentially crippling after effects…good news for our friends at Burris Logistics, the large family-owned provider of public refrigerated warehousing and freight consolidation services. The Milford, DE-based logistics firm earlier this month announced that it has successfully completed the purchase of a 55-acre property in McDonough, GA (33 miles south of Atlanta) and will soon begin construction of a 250,000 square foot, public refrigerated warehouse (PRW) with 28,000 pallet positions, and an attached office on the property. The facility will create more than 75 local jobs for Phase I when construction is completed in January 2018. The Georgia warehouse will allow the company to further enhance a growing network of refrigerated warehouses, strengthening customer service. “Burris continues to evolve to meet the needs of our current and potential clients,” said Donnie Burris, company CEO. “Our expansion into the Greater Atlanta region highlights the growth, popularity and diversification we are experiencing throughout our entire operation. We are selected for our commitment to service, leading-edge technology and solid core values. We welcome new and expanded relationships…so Albertsons is talking to Sprouts Farmers Markets about a possible acquisition, which would be a huge deal if it were to happen – my Wall Street friends peg the odds at 50/50. One thing for certain is that if a deal was completed, it would cost the Boise, ID-based chain plenty. Sprouts – which is a publicly-traded company – is one of the few real success stories of the past few years in the retail grocery segment. The Phoenix, AZ organics merchant operates about 260 stores in 14 states (mostly in the West – but it just opened its first Florida store). Sales last year were $4 billion and the Whole Foods competitor has been averaging about 30 new stores a year for the past four years. And we recently learned that Sprouts has been eyeing at least two locations in the Philadelphia area – one in South Philly (Broad and Washington Streets) and one in the Moorestown (NJ) Mall, in part of the space that Macy’s once occupied. A spokesman for Sprouts would not confirm those deals, adding that the company has to date only officially announced Florida and North Carolina as new market expansion areas for the retailer.
Local Notes
Wegmans has confirmed that its next two store openings will occur on July 23 in Hanover, NJ (113,000 square feet) and September 24 in Montvale, NJ (108,000 square feet)…PriceRite, a unit of Wakefern Food Corp., will celebrate the opening of its 64th discount unit next month when it cuts the ribbon on a new 35,000 square foot store in Syracuse. Wakefern’s second largest member, Village Super Market, saw its second quarter earnings slip 5 percent to $6 million for the period ended January 28. Total revenue and comp store sales both declined 1.9 percent. The Springfield, NJ ShopRite operator (and only publicly-traded member) pointed to continuing meat, dairy and produce deflation, and four competitive openings in its 29-store operating region. Partially offsetting those market challenges were improved sales at remodeled stores in Stirling, NJ and Chester, NJ and three competitive closings. Kudos to Linda Lussier, director of labor relations for another Wakefern arm, SRS, who retired last month after 43 years with the company. Lussier had the distinction of becoming the first female to hold the posts of store director and VP-operations for Big V Supermarkets which SRS acquired in 2000. We wish Linda much success in her future endeavors…two Giant/Carlisle stores in Lancaster County, PA will be closing soon. The company’s 48,800 square foot unit in Fruitville Pike in Manheim Twp. and its 39,500 square foot unit on Reservoir Street in Lancaster will be shutting their doors on May 18. “It’s always difficult to close a store, but this decision was made as a result of an ongoing assessment of our store fleet, and in this instance, the stores being closed are not part of our long-term plans for Lancaster,” Giant president Tom Lenkevich said on March 9, Weis Markets cut the ribbon on its long-awaited 65,000 square foot store in Enola, PA. This new unit offers several notable wrinkles for the Sunbury, PA-based merchant, including its first in-store pub, an ice cream shop and juice bar encompassed in a “community market” design. Weis will need to be on its “A” game considering that rival Giant/Carlisle operates one if its best stores, a 76,000 square foot replacement unit that opened in late 2014, directly across the street …it was a busy month for earnings and we’ve got some highlights (and lowlights) to report. While we’re on the subject of Weis Markets, the regional chain’s numbers were very good for its fourth quarter and 2016 year end. Adjusting for the extra week in 2016, the company’s fourth quarter sales increased 17.6 percent while comparable store sales were up 3.4 percent. “In 2016, we acquired and converted 44 stores in 96 days and generated more than $3 billion in sales for the first time in our 10- year history,” said Jonathan Weis, chairman and CEO. “We continued to improve every aspect of our operations in 2016, including supply chain, merchandising and in-store experience, which resulted in a year of strong sales and earnings growth.” During the 14-week period ended December 31, 2016, the retailer’s fourth quarter overall sales increased 26.0 percent to $925.1 million compared to $734.1 million for the 13-week period ended December 26, 2015. Fourth quarter net income increased 148.2 percent to $41.1 million. During that period, Weis realized a one-time gain of $23.9 million on the purchase of 38 Food Lion stores. Fourth quarter operating income increased 4.9 percent to $27.0 million compared to the same period in 2015. For all of fiscal 2016 and also adjusting for the extra week, the company’s 2016 sales increased 6.9 percent while comparable store sales increased 2.9 percent. With the extra week added, its 53-week period revenue increased 9.0 percent to $3.1 billion compared to $2.9 billion for the 52-week period in 2015. Year-to-date net income increased 46.9 percent to $87.2 million, while earnings per share increased 46.6 percent to $3.24 compared to $2.21 in 2015. Year-to-date operating income increased 8.3 percent to $98.3 million. Weis attributed its comparable sales and net income increases in 2016 to continuing price investments, disciplined sales promotions, an enhanced customer experience and improved supply chain efficiencies. It also benefited from strong increases in its pharmacy and fresh department sales, the company noted. Also reporting solid fourth quarter earnings in the U.S. was Ahold Delhaize. At its Ahold USA unit, operating margin was 4 percent, but, as previously reported, comp store sales declined 0.2 percent at its nearly 800 stores. The star of the show was Delhaize America’s contribution (Food Lion, Hannaford) where comps increased 2.2 percent and underlying operating margin was 3.6 percent. There’s no question that the newly formed Ahold Delhaize machine knows how to make money. As for AUSA, its ongoing reorg should lead to improved sales, too (if you believe their rhetoric). But as I’ve said many times, efficiencies and backroom enhancements will mean little if more attention isn’t paid to the stores – particularly staffing and training. At Food Lion, which just began an “easy, fresh and affordable” remodeling program at its160-store Greensboro, NC division, the upcoming onslaught of Lidl openings will be the biggest challenge that Le Lion has faced in years. Also reporting fourth quarter earnings recently was Publix. The employee-owned juggernaut, which will enter the Richmond market later this year, posted a solid 2.2 percent comp store increase (about the peer group average) while growing earnings by 4.5 percent to $544.5 million. “I’m proud of our Publix associates – the owners of Publix – for continuing to make us a leader in our industry and providing a great shopping experience,” said Todd Jones, CEO of the Lakeland, FL-based chain which operates 1,143 units in the Southeast. On the negative earnings track were Target and Sears Holdings. Target posted its third consecutive comp store decline (negative 1.5 percent in the quarter, down 4.3 percent for the full year) in its recently completed fourth quarter ended January 28. With profits also decreasing 13.5 percent, CEO Brian Cornell went on the offensive, noting that the Minneapolis-based mass merchant would “accelerate investments in a smart network of physical and digital assets as well as our exclusive and differentiated assortment, including the launch of more than 12 new brands, representing more than $10 billion of our sales, over the next two years.” According to the former Pepsi, Safeway and Wal-Mart executive, Target’s ramp-up of a focus on small-format stores will yield more than 100 such locations expected to open within three years. Another 600 stores are set for overhauls over the same timeframe, to better reflect the brand. “We have some old, tired stores that haven’t been updated in years,” Cornell told financial analysts in the post-earnings conference call, adding that “it’s unrealistic to ask people to shop the way their parents did.” One new Target store that technically fits into the small format silo, but will certainly be larger than that in reality, is the recently announced 43,000 square foot unit that will be built on West 34th store in Herald Square in Manhattan, slated for an October opening. The store is across from Macy’s flagship unit and could become the mass merchant’s busiest store in terms of foot traffic in its entire fleet. Late last year, Target opened a small format store in the Tribeca section of Manhattan and will open other downsized units on East 14 Street (Union Square) and 10th Avenue (Hell’s Kitchen) in the next two years. Target also operates larger conventional-sized stores in Harlem and in the Atlantic Yards development in Brooklyn. And just before presstime, Target made a bold move by naming Kroger executive Jeff Burt as its new senior VP-grocery, fresh food and beverage (that job was recently held by another Cornell hand-picked successor, Anne Dament, who’s now at Supervalu). Burt, who was president of Kroger’s Fred Meyer unit in Portland, OR, will have an exceedingly difficult
challenge as Cornell must decide how to escape from the dreaded “middle of the road/roadkill” perception as it pertains to Target’s grocery image. At Sears Holdings, fourth quarter numbers continued to resemble a train wreck. The Hoffman Estates, IL-based firm posted a $607 million loss in the period; same store sales fell an incredible 10.3 percent, all leading to a 58 percent share decline over the past 12 months. The company also lost one of its key executives when Alasdair James departed as Kmart president and chief member officer. This marks the third key Sears Holdings exec to leave this company in less than three years. Jeff Balagna, former EVP of Sears, and Joelle Maher, who held the same title as James at Sears, have also exited the troubled retailer. However, CEO (Slow) Eddie Lampert apparently has a new idea that he believes will provide some relief. Last month, the bedraggled operator unveiled its first DieHard Auto Center (Driven by Sears) in San Antonio, TX. I’m not certain if the new concept and brand were derived from the car battery of the same name or whether the company was describing its ongoing descent into the inevitable…FreshDirect, the online grocery delivery service, that owns the Manhattan market, will be expanding its service the Washington, DC market in Q2. Fueled by a $189 million cash infusion from J.P. Morgan, the Long Island City, NY company expanded to Philadelphia several years ago and has launched FoodKick, an on-demand mobile delivery app and service… very sad to report the death of Robert Osborne, the primary host of Turner Classic Movies, who passed away earlier this month at the age of 84. If you are a life-long movie aficionado, as I am, you couldn’t help but appreciate Osborne’s encyclopedic knowledge of and passion for film. Despite some health issues over the past several years, the former failed actor never lost his dedication and enthusiasm for all things cinematic…passing away too early was actor Bill Paxton, who among his 93 movie and TV roles included such blockbusters as “Apollo 13” (1995); “Twister” (1996); and “Titanic” (1997). We all have those “never forget” moments and Paxton’s came as an eight year old when the Fort Worth, TX native was taken to Dallas by his father to see President John F. Kennedy on the fateful morning of November 22, 1963. Paxton was only 61 when he died…the progenitor of all reality courtroom TV shows has now received his final verdict. Yes, sadly, Judge Wapner is dead. Former Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Joseph Wapner died in his sleep late last month at age of 97. From 1981 to 1993, “The People’s Court” was where you could find the good judge on hundreds of local TV stations where he would adjudicate small claims cases, sometimes involving ridiculous confrontations such as when a women bought a birthday cake for her daughter for $9.00. She said the cake was moldy and the baker offered her a refund of $4.50. She then picketed the bakery for six hours and then filed her claim. “I told her that persistence pays off and awarded her $9.00.” Actually, as a real jurist, Wapner was considered an innovator. He was credited with developing a system aimed at saving time for trial participants and his courtroom (which was part of the largest court in the U.S.) was among the first venues to test videotaping of trials in 1971. Chuck Barris has died, too. The wacky television executive (he created “The Dating Game” and “The Newlywed Game”) and host of “The Gong Show” passed away earlier this month at the age of 87. Barris, who was born and raised in Philadelphia, had a most interesting life, which also included songwriting (“Palisades Park” in 1962, which was a big hit for Freddy “Boom Boom” Cannon) and authoring several books, including his autobiography, “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind” in which he claimed to have been a CIA assassin. That memoir was made into an interesting movie in 2002 which was directed by George Clooney in his first behind the camera effort. As the so-called “king of daytime television,” Barris introduced us to such memorable Gong Show characters as “Gene Gene The Dancing Machine” and “The Unknown Comic.” And just before presstime, we lost two other true American originals. Jimmy Breslin, who pretty much defined the words “passionate local columnist,” passed away at the age of 88. Working for a variety of New York daily newspapers – The Journal American, Daily News, New York Post and Newsday – in a career that spanned more than 60 years, Breslin was poetic and profane, often funny and always controversial. He authored several novels including his initial fiction tome “The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight,” a hilarious satirical look at how the Mafia operated (which unfortunately was made into an awful movie). From surgery for a brain aneurysm in 1994 came his memoir “I Want To Thank My Brain For Remembering Me.” It may have been a different generation, but Jimmy Breslin’s wit and wisdom will surely be missed. If there was one man who could arguably claim the kingship of rock and roll, it would be Chuck Berry. The iconic guitarist, songwriter and singer passed away March 18 at his St. Louis area home at the age of 90. While Elvis may have been the shiniest star in the earliest days of rock and roll in the mid to late 50s, Berry was certainly its heart and soul, writing such timeless classics as “Johnny B. Goode,” Roll Over Beethoven,” “Maybellene” (his first hit) and “Promised Land.” Actually, there were about 20 great songs in the Berry catalogue that achieved best-selling status. Chuck Berry was inducted into the inaugural Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class in 1986 and “Johnny B. Goode” will live on extraterrestrially, having been launched into eternity on the Voyager I and II spacecraft in 1977. John Lennon said it perfectly: “If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it Chuck Berry. Amen.
