IGA ANNOUNCES 80TH ANNIVERSARY
$80,000 HOMETOWN PROUD SWEEPSTAKES WINNER

Additional $9,000 to be Donated to Habitat for Humanity in Six Northwest States

CHICAGO, IL - IGA today announced 79-year-old Bernice Rinell of Polusbo, Wash., has been named the winner of IGA’s 80th Anniversary Hometown Proud Sweepstakes. Rinell was chosen via random drawing from the thousands of entries submitted from across nation during the Hometown Proud Sweepstakes marketing campaign, held in stores April 23-July 4, 2006. The presentation of the $80,000 cash award will be made on Wednesday, October 18th at 1 p.m. at the Renton IGA Food Store located at 16420 SE 128th St., Renton, Wash.

In addition to the $80,000 Grand Prize giveaway, IGA will donate to Habitat for Humanity a total of $9,000 in six Northwest states, including Washington, Oregon., Alaska, Idaho, Montana., and Wyoming. The donation will be gifted on behalf of all of the IGA’s 77 Northwest-region retailers.

The Sweepstakes and donation were sponsored by IGA and a host of famous brand name companies, including Campbell Soup Company, ConAgra Foods, The Coca-Cola Company, Coca-Cola Hydration Unit, POWERade, Dannon Natural Spring Water, Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Kraft Foods and Nabisco, Nestlé Purina PetCare Company, Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company and Unilever.

"For the past 80 years IGA has worked with its vendor partners and licensed distribution centers to meet the ever-changing needs of our customers," said Jim Walz, Senior Director, Branding & Business Development for IGA USA . "With that in mind, we wanted to create a marketing event that would stress the importance of IGA's Hometown Proud commitment, recognize our retailers for dedication, and significantly impact the life of an IGA consumer. Our loyal manufacturing partners enabled us to do just that. The IGA Hometown Proud 80th Anniversary Sweepstakes proved to be hugely successful in that it increased awareness of IGA’s heritage as the nation’s oldest independent grocery alliance while allowing us to give something back to our customers and the communities we serve.”

Randy Pollock, director, retail merchandising IGA NW Supermarkets, said the decision to donate $9,000 to Habitat for Humanity ($8,000 was which was originally intended as a prize for the retailer who had the winning registrant, and an additional $1,000 donated by IGA NW Retailers) fell in-line with IGA’s Hometown Proud philosophy. “The IGA NW Regional Board and IGA NW retailers felt the additional $8,000 would be put to better use in the form of a donation,” Pollock said. “There is a tremendous amount of similarity between the IGA Retailer creed of "Hometown Proud" and the Habitat for Humanity goal of providing shelter for needy families. Donating the retailer award across our NW region’s six states will allow all of our 77 stores to participate in addressing the potential needs of our customers and neighbors.”

Rinell, who intends to use her winnings to pay-off her credit cards and purchase a more reliable car, is extremely thankful to have been able to participate in the Sweepstakes. “Though I don’t have an IGA store in my immediate vicinity, I was thankfully able to enter online,” she said. “I have been a loyal shopper of IGA in the past, and would love to be so again. If at any point an IGA opens in Polusbo, I’ll certainly never shop anywhere else again.”

IGA is the world's largest voluntary supermarket network with aggregate worldwide retail sales of more than $20 billion per year. The Alliance includes more than 4,000 Hometown Proud Supermarkets worldwide, supported by 52 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. IGA's theme and philosophy, Hometown Proud, dates from its 1930s national radio show, IGA Hometown Hour, reflecting the local roots of IGA independent grocers.