Piggly Wiggly Introduces Nation's First Store Designed to Fit How Customers Intuitively...

Piggly Wiggly Introduces Nation's First Store Designed to Fit How Customers Intuitively Shop

New Consumer Experience-Driven Approach Designed to Stand out in
Highly Competitive Market
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C.--(Business Wire)--
Piggly Wiggly Carolina Company, Inc. today opened the nation's
first completely restructured grocery store model designed to fit the
way people intuitively shop.

The pioneering effort by the South Carolina-based grocery chain
comes at a highly competitive time for the industry, when many
traditional grocery stores - faced with rising food costs, increasing
gas prices and a slowing economy - are being forced to shut their
doors.

While many stores have introduced cosmetic changes and special
features - such as improved signage and coffee counters - the Piggly
Wiggly at The Market Common is the first in the country to build a
completely new prototype from the ground up.

"In today's competitive market, we felt it was time to take a
creative approach that will give people the opportunity to shop the
way they think, and have fun while doing it," said David Schools,
Piggly Wiggly CEO. "When you enter the Piggly Wiggly at The Market
Common, you don't see check out lines. You don't go down five aisles
to get ingredients for one meal. We've even added interior design
elements including wood flooring, soft lighting and an open floor plan
to make it feel more like home."

Several recent developments in modern technology have made it
possible to restructure the traditional grocery store model, and
Piggly Wiggly is the first to use advanced refrigeration systems and
other technologies to arrange food items based on how customers
naturally look for them. Fresh, frozen and canned vegetables and
fruit, for instance, will be in the same location, as will cereal and
milk. One stop stations will offer complete meal solutions with items
such as ground beef, hamburger buns, chips and beer grouped together
for backyard grilling.

"Shoppers deserve stores designed for the way consumers shop,"
said Nick Giammarco, owner and president of Marco Retail Group, a
leading retail design studio. "Piggly Wiggly's new store gives them
a food-shopping experience driven by their needs and expectations, not
store operations and distribution systems. It moves away from the
conventional store layout and marks a strategic shift for this
unusually progressive retailer."

Additional store features include signature prepared meals
available for curb-side pickup, an on-site sommelier, more than 1,500
wine varieties and a Dream Dinner franchise where as many as two
months' worth of oven-ready meals can be prepared. Nearly 1,600
natural or organic products will also be available, thanks to a
vigorous certification process that only a few retailers nationwide
have completed.

Energy efficient measures used throughout the store - from special
lighting to insulation in the walls and ceilings - will save more than
one million kilowatt hours of electricity and prevent three million
pounds of carbon dioxide from being produced each year.

The store opened today at The Market Common, the city's new
mixed-use development featuring upscale retail stores, condominiums
and restaurants. Duplication efforts will be determined by customer
response.

Marco Retail Group worked with Piggly Wiggly Carolina Co. to
develop the store concept, and McCreary/Snow Architects oversaw
construction and engineering.

About Piggly Wiggly Carolina Company

A Charleston, S.C. based Supermarket Company founded in 1947.
Piggly Wiggly Carolina Company today is the largest employee-owned,
privately operated retail company in South Carolina. The Company has
more than 115 stores and over 5,000 employee owners throughout South
Carolina and the southeastern regions of Georgia and North Carolina.

For a behind-the scenes video tour of the new store, please click
here.(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXG4dlnHiEE)

High res images and b-roll video are also available upon request.

Piggly Wiggly Carolina Company, Inc.
Rita G. Postell, 843-554-9880, ext. 8136
800-243-9880, ext. 8136

Copyright Business Wire 2008