A longitudinal study compared the effectiveness of worker buyouts and quality of work life programs (QWL) in reversing the shutdown of supermarkets in Philadelphia. Working conditions, worker attitudes, and economic outcomes at a group of employee-owned stores and a group that had adopted QWL strategies were compared at three points in time (summer 1982, summer 1983, and fall 1984). Overall, the worker buyouts were successful at saving some jobs. The worker-owned stores, which had been among the poorest-performing stores originally, had significantly lower unit labor costs in 1983 than either the QWL or non-QWL stores examined, despite the fact that they employed a larger proportion of full-time, highly paid workers. Productivity was also significantly higher at the employee-owned stores. In those stores where QWL had been fully implemented, workers acquired some involvement in decisions through departmental, store, and regional meetings, but their involvement was constrained and limited to short-term decisions. The worker-owners worked more hours per week on average than did their QWL store counterparts. (Appendixes contain excerpts from agreements between the United Food and Commercial Workers and various Philadelphia supermarkets, the study questionnaires, analyses of the survey responses, and a 12-page reference list.) (MN)