PROMINENT CLEVELAND AREA SUPERMARKET CONVERTING TO IGA

Zagara’s Marketplace Granted IGA License

CHICAGO, IL - IGA announced today popular Cleveland Heights, Ohio, based Zagara’s Marketplace is converting to IGA. The store, located at 1940 Lee Road, was granted the IGA license in late October and will celebrate its IGA grand opening in January 2004.

Owners John and Charles Zagara and their father, Frank, prominent figures in the Cleveland area grocery industry for more than 14 years, decided to convert to IGA to protect their store’s independent status.

“We kept seeing giant chains buying out independents in the area, and it began to make more and more business sense to join a group,” said John Zagara. “We’ve had in the past our own little groups that we fit in, but never with the same consistent name and approach to doing business that IGA gives us. As a member of the IGA Family, we belong to a group that gives us buy power, a strong marketing platform and a private label product line that is respected.”

Mike Lee, advertising director of Marketplace IGA Advertising Group, a coalition of 11 owners of upscale large format IGA stores in the Midwest, says that Zagara’s is assured to be a highly productive member of the IGA Family.

“It is obvious that Zagara’s will quickly become a very strong player within our ad group and IGA as a whole,” said Lee. “Zagara’s name is widely known in the area. I can think of no better marriage of identities.”

The original Zagara’s, a 12,000 square foot store located two blocks from the current location, opened in 1988. In June of 2002, the Zagara family owners opened the doors of their 30,000 square foot new construction supermarket. As part of an ongoing revitalization effort, the city of Cleveland Heights assisted the Zagara’s in the purchase of the 11 parcels of land needed for the store’s new site.

Zagara’s Marketplace was designed by ADA Architects, a leading Lakewood, Ohio, based architectural firm that specializes in the practice of commercial, educational, governmental and health architecture. The supermarket features an indoor/outdoor café, a liquor store and walk-in beverage cooler, and a meat and seafood service area.

“We went with ADA because they have a such a sound reputation in the Cleveland area,” said John Zagara. “They’ve been building supermarkets since the 1970s, and they have a very strong sense of what it takes to build a dynamic one. We wanted our building to be very structurally intensive—ADA was the obvious choice.”

Dan Saleet, vice president of ADA, says Zagara’s Marketplace is one of the firm’s crowning accomplishments in the commercial segment.

“Our work on this project began in early 2000, and from the beginning it was obvious that this was going to be a wonderful opportunity,” Saleet said. “In the end, we created a building that is talked about in circles as one of the more amazing structures in the community—both inside and out. We’re looking forward to seeing the IGA name in conjunction with this impressive store.”

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.