IGA Retailer Best Practices Perspective

Copiague IGA Celebrates Hometown Heritage with Polish Day Festival

A message from...
Richard Lukeman
Owner
Copiague IGA Supermarket #870
Copiague, NY
Serviced by: Bozzuto's, Inc.

IGA Retailers are known for going above and beyond to meet the specific needs of their customers and their communities. Today, Richard Lukeman of Copiague IGA Supermarket shares his store's commitment to serve the large Polish-American population of his community.

Here at Copiague IGA we have an expanded Polish section that includes over 10,000 groceries, dairy and meat items, 1,000 books and magazines, three newspapers and a television that broadcasts a Polish station throughout the day, so the Polish community is obviously very important to us. When we learned that Copiague would be hosting a Polish Day Festival in June, our Polish grocery manager, Brain Begley, decided it was a good idea for us to participate.

Brian teamed up with our Polish front end manager, Greg Sokolowski, to run a Copiague IGA booth at the festival. Throughout the day we handed out a number of free things, including IGA water bottles, key chains, and Polish beverages, candy and cookies. A representative from our Licensed Distribution Center, Bozzuto's Dan Brock, was also on hand for the event, and helped our booth to stand out by donating an Alpine mountain bike that was raffled-off at the end of the day.

The feedback that we have been receiving from our customers has been unbelievable. We were the first sponsor in the event's history to raffle off a grand prize and people were very appreciative. We are already seeing an increase in the number of customers purchasing our Polish goods, but most of all, we're glad that we were able to show our dedication to the community and the people we serve.

Thanks,

Richard Lukeman

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