IGA NAMES 2005 INTERNATIONAL RETAILERS OF THE YEAR

Louis Young Receives Prestigious Global Award

CHICAGO, IL - IGA today announced Louis Young, owner of Payless IGA Market in Copperopolis, Calif., has been named one of six 2005 IGA International Retailers of the Year. Young was chosen for the annual award from the 4,400 IGA Retailers worldwide. A committee of IGA executives and food industry experts based their decisions on performance of the retailers in areas ranging from leadership and innovation to hometown involvement and employee development. Young was honored at IGA's 2005 International Retailers of the Year Awards Dinner Ceremony held at the IGA Global Summit on Tuesday, March 1, at Marriott’s Rancho Las Palmas Resort and Spa in Palm Springs, Calif.

Payless IGA Market in Copperopolis has increased weekly sales from $60,000 to over $100,000 since its purchase by Louis Young in 2002. To improve store performance, Young made prices more competitive, removed old merchandise, instilled an innovative customer service philosophy and expanded the bakery and deli operations. Being involved in the community contributed to Payless IGA Market’s edge over local competition. Young and his staff belong to every civic organization in their trade area.

"IGA International Retailer of the Year Louis Young is Hometown Proud in every sense of the word," said Dr. Thomas Haggai, chairman and CEO of IGA. “Over the last 50 years Young’s career has taken him from bottle sorter to owner of three IGA supermarkets in Northern California area. Although faced with some of the stiffest competition in the country, he has managed to keep his customers by serving his community with the intense personal care that has come to be the cornerstone of the IGA way.”

“I am very honored to be named International Retailer of the Year,” Young said. “It couldn’t have been done without the help of my 150 hardworking employees. It is a great honor to belong to IGA—a group with such a fantastic reputation worldwide. IGA provides the format, strength and support that enable independent grocers to survive and be the very special Hometown Proud business that we are.”

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 37 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.