New owners Dor Alon is worried about a consumer boycott of it larger business, Blue Square, by the haredi and religious communities.
Supermarket chain AM:PM has stopped selling non-kosher food. The chain was recently acquired by Dor Alon Energy in Israel (1988) Ltd. (TASE:DRAL) for NIS 150 million.
AM:PM is open on Saturday and sells non-kosher food, thereby jeopardizing Dor Alon’s other businesses, including Blue Square Israel Ltd. (NYSE: BSI; TASE: BSI), Israel second largest supermarket chain. haredi (ultra-orthodox) and religious people look askance, to put it mildly, at Dor Alon operating a supermarket chain that is open on Saturday and sells non-kosher products, while Blue Square does neither.
Presumably, the decision to stop selling non-kosher products was made because of the realization that this created a real threat of a consumer boycott of Dor Alon’s larger business, Blue Square, by the haredi and religious communities.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on January 15, 2007
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2007