RIDEOUT IGA HOLDS CUSTOMER APPRECIATION DAY

CHICAGO, IL - Perry, Ohio, based Rideout IGA held its first ever customer appreciation day on Saturday, October 25. The event, which was attended by more than 300 community members, doubled as a surprise birthday party for storeowner Bob Rideout.

Wife and co-owner Sue Rideout says the customer appreciation day was inspired by the community’s heartwarming reaction to her husband being diagnosed with terminal cardiomyopathy in July of this year.

“I knew his birthday was coming and I thought it would be a fabulous tie-in to not only acknowledge he’s still here and with us, but also to thank the wonderful customers who called to ask how Bob was doing, day after day and week after week,” said Rideout. “Bob was simply overwhelmed to see how much we—and our store—mean to our customers. IGA’s Hometown Proud ideology is really alive here in Perry Ohio. Bob feels that if his life ends up being short, it has at least been touched.”

Customers who attended the event dined on hamburgers, hotdogs and birthday cake. Raffles, featuring prizes donated by local businesses, were held throughout the three-hour period.

“What a wonderful tribute that most of the people who attended showed up not for the ‘customer appreciation’ day, but rather to celebrate the birth and life of this courageous man,” said Dr. Thomas Haggai, president and CEO of IGA.

IGA, the only global supermarketer based in the United States, is the world’s largest voluntary supermarket network with aggregate worldwide retail sales of more than $21 billion per year. The Alliance includes more than 4,000 Hometown Proud Supermarkets worldwide, supported by 36 distribution companies and more the 55 major manufacturers, vendors and suppliers encompassing everything from grocery to equipment items. IGA ranks in the top 10 in world food supermarketing. IGA has operations in 48 of the United States and more than 40 countries, commonwealths and territories on all six inhabited continents.