South Carolina Retailer Named Independent Retailer of the Year

AUSTIN, TX, December 5, 2005 — St. Stephen IGA, a South Carolina-based independent retailer, was named the USA Rice Federation Independent Retailer of the Year at the USA Rice Outlook Conference today. The IGA store received the award due to its outstanding efforts to promote U.S.-grown rice throughout September National Rice Month.

During the promotion, St. Stephen’s store — in a town of 1950 people — sold nearly 42,000 pounds of rice, a 360 percent increase from the previous month. “Besides the real enjoyment we received from implementing this promotion, our sales figures astounded us even more — it was beyond what we anticipated,” store manager Eddie Brown said.

St. Stephen IGA’s promotional efforts for National Rice Month focused on increasing awareness of the history of rice production in South Carolina, the development of displays and distribution of T-shirts, recipes and coupons. “Many of our customers were inspired by the stories of rice serving as an integral part of our community’s history,” Brown said.

“St. Stephen IGA provides a wonderful example of how rice promotion can be tailored to individual communities to drive sales,” said Charles Trahan, USA Rice Domestic Promotions Committee chairman.

The National Rice Month program is a promotion sponsored by the USA Rice Federation to raise awareness and consumption of U.S.-grown rice. The promotion generates 200 million consumer impressions and in-store displays for rice in thousands of grocery stores every September.

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Photo caption: Eddie Brown receives Independent Retailer of the Year an award for his store’s promotions during National Rice Month.

CONTACT: Molly Johnson, (703) 236-1448, mjohnson@usarice.com

USA Rice Federation is the national advocate for all segments of the rice industry, conducting activities to influence government programs, developing and initiating programs to increase worldwide demand for U.S. rice, and providing other services to increase profitability for all industry segments.