The impact of the slow economy is being felt even (or maybe especially?) by upscale grocers and their employees.

An undisclosed number of Kowalski's Market employees were hit with layoff notices in recent days, the Business Agenda has learned.

Slower sales have tightened bugets, and store managers were struggling to assign workers an adequate number of hours, said Mike Oase, vice president of operations for the Woodbury grocery chain.

Oase declined to give a specific number but described it as "a few" at each of the company's nine metro-area stores, with the exception of two stores where natural turnover reduced the number of employees.

"We were pretty fortunate that it wasn't a lot that we had to do," Oase said. "We're hoping this summer things will pick up again."