STEW LEONARD'S CELEBRATES 40TH ANNIVERSARY
WITH BIGGER, BETTER, GREENER STORE

NORWALK, Conn., October 28, 2009 – Stew Leonard's turns forty this month and is celebrating with an expansion to its flagship Norwalk store. The retailer is adding 5,000 square feet of retail space, expanding several departments, widening aisles, installing equipment to provide more fresh-made products onsite and vastly improving its energy efficiency. To celebrate the bigger, better and greener store, Stew Leonard’s is hosting a ribbon cutting ceremony and in-store party to thank the community for its patronage and support over the last forty years.

The celebration is set for Tuesday, November 10, 2009 and starts with a ribbon cutting ceremony at 10:00 A.M. hosted by the Leonard family, followed by in-store family-friendly fun lasting until 7:00 P.M. Joining Stew Leonard, Sr., Stew Leonard, Jr., Tom Leonard, Beth Leonard Hollis and Jill Leonard Tavello for the ribbon cutting ceremony will be: Bob Duff, Connecticut State Senator; Lawrence Cafero, Jr., Connecticut State Representative; Edward Musante, Jr., Greater Norwalk Chamber of Commerce President and; Dominic Scerbio, Connecticut Light & Power Account Representative.

"I cannot believe it has been forty years," recalls Stew Leonard, Sr., founder of the farm-fresh food store. "I remember Marianne and I sitting the four kids down to let them know that opening a store would be a big risk and that we would have to make sacrifices along the way in order to make it work. We are so grateful to every last customer that has shopped in our stores over the past forty years."

The 5,000 square feet of additional retail space contains the following new and updated amenities, all of which came from customer suggestions and adhere to Stew's famous "show and sell" concept of being on display for all to see:

• Bigger and better coffee department located at entrance of store so customers can quickly grab their cup of joe and go. Stew Leonard’s continues to roast its own coffee on a daily basis and purchased a brand new roaster to accommodate the increased demand from customers
• Bigger bakery with greater selection of breads, desserts and gourmet cake
• Brand new pasta station, offering customers a variety of pastas made fresh in the store each day
• Brand new pizza station, offering fresh-made pizzas and foccaccia bread produced in a newly-purchased hearth oven
• Kettle corn and chips station, made fresh daily from a newly-purchased kettle. The kettle corn joins Stew's already-famous kettle chips and variety of fresh-made dips
• Improved sushi counter, providing a greater selection of fresh-made sushi, sashimi and accoutrements, such as wasabi, edamame, seaweed salad and dumplings
• Bigger, more modern restrooms, which has been Stew's biggest customer request for years

In addition to bigger and better, the new store is now greener: a new energy-efficient gas hot water system has been installed, a portion of the refrigeration system has been converted from freon to the more environmentally-friendly glycol and the remaining portion will be converted in a second phase of construction; energy-efficient lighting has been installed in the renovated portion of the store; two outdoor building signs have been converted to LED and; the City of Norwalk is now collecting the dairy store's milk cartons for recycling. All in all, the energy efficiency improvements equate to eliminating the annual electrical use of 411 average households or removing 684 cars from the road for a year.

Stew Leonard's invested $4 million dollars into the Norwalk store renovation and vetted all construction projects to Connecticut-based companies, employing on average 25 people per day for the past six months.

The in-store celebration includes "wow" pricing on many top-selling items throughout the store, free birthday cupcakes and samples from each of the new and improved food stations, play time with Stew Leonard's costumed characters, and a free fortieth anniversary-themed reusable bag for every 100th customer at check out.

To commemorate the fortieth anniversary of his business, Stew Leonard, Sr. wrote a book, Stew Leonard: My Story. In it, he shares insights and anecdotes about the victories and setbacks he experienced along the way and details the secrets that helped him build the "World's Largest Dairy Store," from its establishment in 1969 into the famous retail phenomenon it is today. The book retails for $19.95 or 2 for $30.00.

About Stew Leonard's
Stew Leonard's, a family-owned and operated fresh food store founded in 1969, has four stores in Norwalk, Danbury, and Newington, Conn. and Yonkers, N.Y. Stew's earned its nickname, the "Disneyland of dairy stores," because of its country-fair atmosphere, with costumed characters and animated entertainment throughout the store that keep children entertained while parents shop. Stew Leonard's legion of loyal shoppers is largely due to the stores' passionate approach to customer service: "Rule #1 -- The Customer is Always Right"; Rule #2 – If the Customer is Ever Wrong, Re-Read Rule#1." This principle is so essential to the foundation of the company that it is etched in a three-ton granite rock at each store's entrance. The company's culture is built around an acronym for S.T.E.W.: Satisfy the customer; Teamwork gets it done; Excellence makes it better; WOW makes it fun. For more information, visit Stew Leonard's website at www.stewleonards.com.