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ROTTERDAM
Price Chopper sues competitor over alleged flier theft
BY STEVEN COOK Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter Steven Cook at 395-3122 or scook@dailygazette.net.

    Alleged thefts of Price Chopper advertising fliers in the Southern Tier have prompted the Rotterdam-based supermarket chain to fi le a $20 million lawsuit against a competitor.
    Price Chopper filed the suit Wednesday in state Supreme Court in Schenectady County, alleging that a beer supplier repeatedly stole advertising fliers from a Binghamton Price Chopper.
    The fliers were then turned over to an official with the Binghamton-area supermarket competitor Giant, the suit alleges.
    Giant, the suit alleges, used those trade secrets to gain a competitive advantage over Price Chopper and may have been taking trade secrets for years.
    Price Chopper CEO Neil Golub said Friday that the company had a similar incident in the early 1990s, shortly after it entered the Binghamton market. The source of that incident was never found.
    “It’s an issue of ethics,” Golub said. “That’s really what it’s all about.”
    Price Chopper has one store in Binghamton and one in nearby Endicott. No similar problems have been seen in other regions, Golub said.
    Representatives of the Vestal-based Giant did not return a call for comment Friday.
    The alleged conspiracy, according to the suit, was rooted in newspaper advertising deadlines, with Price Chopper’s Sunday insert in the Binghamton newspaper being due on Tuesdays and Giant’s advertising in the actual paper not due until Friday or Saturday.
    According to the suit, the supplier, identified as Todd Hoover of Greene, stole the fliers over a six-month period from a Binghamton Price Chopper.
    The fliers were in an “employee only” area on Wednesdays but were not distributed to the public until the Sunday editions of the local Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin.
    Hoover allegedly removed the fliers from a bottle storage closet and stuffed them down his pants, according to the suit...............>>>>........>>>>.......http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar00603