IGA EXPANDS TO 45th COUNTRY

St. Lucia’s Julian’s Supermarkets Join the IGA Family

CHICAGO, IL - IGA today announced that four of eastern Caribbean island St. Lucia’s Julian’s Supermarkets have converted to IGA. The stores were granted the IGA license on October 10. St. Lucia’s two remaining Julian’s Supermarkets are expected to follow suit within the next year pending renovations.

The first of what is now known as Julian’s Supermarket was acquired by master franchise Gablewoods Supermarket Limited in 1994. Over the next eight years, Chairman and major shareholder Michael Chastanet expanded the franchise to include six stores, which when combined, control 43 percent of the island.

Chastanet said his decision to convert to the IGA Banner was multifold. “We were extremely interested in acquiring the exclusive right to IGA’s private label,” said Chastanet, who expects to stock around five million dollars in IGA private label merchandise annually. “We were also eager to benefit from forming a relationship with IGA’s many reputable Red Oval Family partners. However, perhaps the most compelling reason was the opportunity to be a part of an independent global organization that we know and trust.”

“We are very pleased to welcome St. Lucia’s Julian’s Supermarkets into the IGA Family,” said Jose Brinson, IGA director of international operations. “This move basically places IGA in control of the grocery industry in St. Lucia. We are certainly looking forward to forging a productive relationship with this respected company.”

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 than 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.