RETAIL TRADE: Blow Against Price-Fixing

John Schwegmann is a 38-year-old New Orleans grocer who quit school at 14 to go to work, first at odd jobs, later in his family's grocery. Now he puts in seven days a week (twelve hours weekdays, six Sundays) at his job. With two brothers and a friend, he operates two stores, one the huge Schwegmann Bros, supermarket, which he proudly calls the "largest in the world." By selling everything from crayfish to shotgun shells—and everything as cheaply as possible—the Schwegmanns will take in close to $7,000,000 this year. "If I do a good job by keeping prices low,"...

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