IGA ADDS 60 ADDITIONAL STORES IN BRAZIL

CHICAGO, IL - IGA today announced it has franchised 60 more stores in Brazil. The stores are the result of a new organization named Union Brazil Supermarkets, developed through the partnership of independent retailers and two retail cooperatives, RedeShow IGA and Multi Market IGA. IGA Chairman and CEO Dr. Thomas S. Haggai and IGA Coca-Cola Institute President and native Brazilian Paulo Goelzer attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony symbolic of the grand opening for the 60 Brazilian IGAs. The ceremony was held on November 18th at Multi Market IGA of São Gonçalo in the metropolitan area of Rio de Janeiro.

Union Brazil Supermarkets is chaired by Luiz Carlos, a retailer who owns two IGA stores and is also President of the Multi Market cooperative. Pinedo Kasper, an industry veteran and expert on buying groups, is the managing director of Union Brazil IGA. Kasper indicates that there will be many additional cooperatives and retail aggregates added to the group in 2006, and forecasts 120 additional stores for the year. Today IGA has stores in six Brazilian states with formats varying from conventional supermarkets to convenience stores.

The breakdown of the 60 stores is as follows:

• New cooperative RedeShow IGA added 12 IGA stores in Espirito Santo.
• New cooperative Multi Market IGA has added 43 IGA stores Rio de Janeiro.
• Regional chain ARCOIRIS (Rainbow, in English) added three stores located in the northern Brazilian city of Recife.
• Modelo IGA, operated by a 2001 IGA International Retailer of the Year, added one new IGA store in Cuiaba, bringing the Modelo IGA store count total to 11.
• Tonin IGA has re-opened one store in the state of São Paulo.

“Needless to say, the pride I’ve had in stores like Tonin and Modelo IGA is magnified by the addition of these new stores,” Dr. Paulo Goelzer said. “I am thankful that IGA has begun to spread throughout my native land, bringing our brand of quality family business to independent retailers.”

“To say the least, I’m extremely proud of our IGAers for structuring a company that takes advantage of the business climate in South America’s largest country,” Dr. Thomas S. Haggai said. “It is also impressive to see the youthfulness of the owners and their projections for growth. Finally, I must stress that we are extremely comfortable with the leadership of President Luiz Carlos, who has spent his life retailing, and commend him and the Board for enlisting the service of Pinedo Kasper, an experienced industry professional as managing director.”

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.