European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 28, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday december 28, 1992 Money matters the stars and stripes Page 17�? today s rates -1 following Are fixed rates at which Community banking and credit Union facilities will sell foreign currencies to . Personnel for personal use German mark.1.55 British Pound.1.57 dutch guilder.1.74 greek drachma .204.9028 note the rates above apply within the Host country. Figures Are expressed in dollars to the British Pound other currencies to the Dollar following Are Interbank rates that fluctuate and should be regarded As the approximate value of the . Dollar to foreign currencies italian lira .1,423.00 turkish lira .8,414.60 Spanish peseta.112.67 portuguese escudo.143.15 austrian schilling.11.2070 saudi rial.3.7495 Bahrain dinar.0.37675 Kuwait Dinar .0.30080 norwegian krone.6.78 danish krone.6.1080 British Pound.1.5350 German mark.1.5910 Swiss franc .1.4465 French franc.5.4385 dutch guilder.1.7893 belgian franc.32.86 Canadian Dollar. 1.2595 note figures Are expressed in dollars to the British Pound other currencies to the Dollar Gold quote $333.00 an ounce Silver quote $3.68 an ounce Wal Mart gets support of suppliers Kansas City to. A at least one Wal Mart supplier who took out a newspaper and supporting the giant retailer after a television news report questioned the company so buy american Campaign says Wal Mart suggested the idea and provided text for the and. Ads were taken out in newspapers across the country after the report tuesday on dateline Abc. The Story charged that Wal Mart imported vast quantities of merchandise exploited sweatshop child labor in Bangladesh and displayed foreign made clothes on Racks proclaiming a made in the  the faultless starch Bon Ami co. Of Kansas City was one of those taking out the ads. A we Are proud to have a partnership with Wal Mart that allows us to produce and sell Quality products in America a said the faultless starch and in wednesdays editions of the Kansas City Star. A we share their commitment. We share their  Ben Stark advertising administrator at faultless starch said the and was suggested by Wal Mart. A we wish wed thought of it ourselves a Stark said. A we just had one Day and we would have liked to have done a better and maybe a Little More  two other Kansas City area suppliers a Dazey corp. And rival manufacturing co. A also took out advertisements in the Star both companies said they had done so without prodding from Wal Mart. Nationwide suppliers also bought ads in newspapers in Arkansas Massachusetts Oklahoma and Wisconsin. Wal Mart denied no cd a allegations saying imports make up less than 6 percent of its total marketed goods. Lewis a. Mendelson executive vice president of Dazey said he Felt he had to respond to the Abc broadcast. Quot what i would have run would have been a lot More explicit because i was very Tingry a he said. A i toned it Down at Wal marts request. It was bad reporting the Story was slanted and a Gross misrepresentation of the  Czechoslovakia gets taste of ambiance of Kmart Prague Czechoslovakia apr attention shoppers the Blue Light special is Here. Kmart corp., americans second largest retailer is open for business in this former communist nation and is transforming its 13 department stores into its own formula for mass marketing to the Middle class. Despite the stores Gray on Gray color schemes and keep the customer at Bay Layouts a features typical of communist retailing a Kmart believes the stores can be transformed into outlets that even suburban americans would love. For now Kmart a trademark use of flashing Blue lights to Alert shoppers to special discounts Are turned on Only briefly. Kmart officials say the lights still make the stores staff a Little nervous. Seven months after closing the $100 million Deal to buy the stores from the czechoslovak government Kmart is launching a $20 million top to Bottom remodelling Effort that will bring in what executives Call the Kmart  it will also give the t Roy  retailer instant dominance in its new Market. Kmart expects its flagships in Prague and Bratislava to rank among the top 10 percent of All Kmart stores in sales volume. Bratislava will be the capital of Independent Slovakia when Czechoslovakia splits into two nations at Midnight thursday. The stores already Are profitable but As managing director Max Scutnik said they Are not  that is putting it mildly. The Kmart in Prague is a six Story socialist style monstrosity with a sooty Glass exterior and creaking escalators. Capitalism has made the merchandise plentiful but it remains marooned on out of reach shelves under the guard of clerks or corralled in bullpen to which Access is limited. As part of the renovation the bullpen will be enlarged and customer service desks added. Bargain Alley a crowd of shoppers packs into am Yoko Alley sunday afternoon in Tokyo a Lleno District. The District is famous for its bargain sales at the end of the year. A total of 3 million shoppers is expected to tour the Alley during the sales which run until thursday police said. Holiday Check writing surges Tampa Fla. Up . Christmas shoppers wrote checks Worth 14.4 percent More in the week before Christmas than they did a year earlier a National Check authorization company said saturday. Tel credit Equi fax Check services a division of Equi fax inc., reported the Peak Check writing Day was saturday dec. 19, at 6.9 percent Over a year earlier. Increased consumer Confidence and the fact that Christmas fell at the end of the week were contributing factors the company claimed. The data reflects comparable store Check sales from More than 25 of the nations largest retail chains served by Tel credit Equi fax Check services. Florida reflected the largest percentage increase in purchases by Check grow ing by More than 29 percent. California showed the smallest gain a 6.8 percent. Following Are the results by Region a the eight state northeastern Region was up 15.4 percent Over the same seven Day period in 1991 a the 10-state midwestern Region was up 14 percent a the 10-state Mountain Region was up 9.3 percent a the five state Western Region was up 8.6 percent a the 17-state Southern Region was up 17.8 percent Tel credit Equi fax Check services provides services to 100,000 retail merchants. In 1991, Tel credit Equi fax Check services authorized checks totalling $10.4 billion. Clothing items will be coordinated and rotated with the season ending the a take what you can get offerings familiar to millions who lived under communism. But even when remodeler the smarts wont be copies of their american counterparts. None of the stores will have the sprawling one Story format like the . Smarts and they wont be completely self service a concept still new to Czechoslovakia. Plans Call for introducing bar code scanners within 18 months but manufacturers first have to be convinced to put the codes on their products. About 70 percent of the Stock will come from local producers the remainder from Western manufacturers hammering on the door to get Access to the new Market through Kmart. A we cannot Sec them manufacturers representatives fast enough a Scutnik said. Black amp Decker corp., Procter amp Gamble co. And Gillette Are among the major corporations whose products arc already on the  pains beset Gerber in baby food by the los Angeles times the company that invented baby food is having a hard time Selling it these Days. Gerber products co., the company that brought the first strained peas onto the Market in 1927, has lost Market share to second and third place competitors since implementing a Price increase last september that was t initially matched. Meanwhile facing slowed population growth in the United states Gerber and its major rivals must target new Consumers a such As children of different Ages and the growing latino and International markets a to keep profit improving in the nearly $1 billion a year Industry analysts said. Under pressure from the Competition Gerber earlier this month forecast lower earnings for the current fiscal year shocking Wall Street enough to Tumble Gerber a Stock to $29,875 a share Down $5.25, or 15 percent on a single Day in mid december. Gerber a 5.5 percent september Price hike Wasny to initially matched by either of its main competitors a Ralston Purina  Beech nut Brand or . Heinz  baby food line. In some regions of the nation those rivals also offered coupons and other promotional deals that lowered their prices stealing Cost conscious buyers away from Gerber. A Beech nut had an incentive not to raise prices and to promote a Little bit to Clear out the excess because its converting its bottle size from 4.5 ounces to 4 ounces a said Industry analyst Michael Mauboussin of first Boston. Gerber a rivals have since announced or implemented comparable Price hikes so Gerber probably will regain its former customers Mauboussin said. Gerber also is optimistic. A we anticipate our Market snare will come right Back a Gerber spokesman Steve Poole said. Gerber had 72 percent of the Market before its latest Price increase Poole said. A Distant second to Gerber a $655 million in annual sales is Beech nut with $129 million or a 14.2 percent share. Heinz follows with $96 million a 10.6 percent share