IGA HOLDS FOURTH ANNUAL EXPLORE THE STORE MARKETING EVENT

CHICAGO, IL - IGA announced today it will hold the fourth annual Explore the Store with IGA marketing event February 29 through March 14, 2004. Explore the Store is a national space-themed promotional campaign that encourages customers to familiarize themselves with their IGA surroundings and try new products. The focal point of the Explore the Store with IGA marketing event is the IGA/U.S. Space Camp scholarship program, the largest privately funded scholarship program offered in the United States for space exploration. To date, Explore the Store has awarded full-scholarships to U.S. Space Camp for more than 200 of our Hometown Proud kids, as well as four teachers who were awarded adult scholarships based on their classes’ participation in the event.

IGA, INC, IGA Retailers and Red Oval Family sponsors purchased reduced rate trips to be awarded by region during the 2004 IGA Explore the Store marketing event’s scholarship contest. Participating children between the ages of nine and 12 will be asked to complete a scholarship application that includes essay and artistic components. IGA INC will also award seven teacher scholarships (one each per region-awarded by random drawing) to teachers who use the scholarship program as a part of their class curriculum.

Winners of the scholarship contest will be attending U.S. Space Camp the week of August 15 – 20, 2004, in Huntsville, Ala. Once the winners have been selected, U.S. Space Camp will make travel arrangements through Delta Air Lines—the official carrier for the IGA/US Space Camp Scholarship Program.

While there, children will engage in a five-day team-focused program composed of a mix of spaceflight history and hands-on, interactive space simulation. Team spirit will be solidified as campers participate in communications and trust exercises, design a mission patch specific to their team, and trained in the Intrepid Space Shuttle Mission simulator. During Missions, team members will alternate between the Space Shuttle crew and Mission Control, experiencing how a launch would feel from both sides.

“We congratulate the many independent grocers, as well as the staff and management of IGA for their continued dedication to the youth of our country, and the investment they are making in the future of America,” Larry Capps, CEO of the U.S. Space and Rocket Center said. “We know the youngsters IGA has sent to Space Camp over the previous two summers have returned home with a renewed interest in science, and a much deeper understanding of the importance of math. With the renewed commitment to the exploration of space, preparing the next generation of scientists, engineers and explorers has never been more important. At Space Camp, that has been our mission for the last 23 years. IGA is making it possible for hundreds of children to share this dream and explore the realities of a high-tech career in the aerospace industry. So, we applaud the efforts of IGA and the hundreds of independent grocers across the country who are literally changing lives by making it possible for so many children to attend Space Camp.”

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.