Fresh & Easy Announces Design-A-Bag Contest Winner

EL SEGUNDO, Calif., July 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market announced today that Los Angeles resident Josephine Close has won the company's first-ever Design-A-Bag Contest. Her design, chosen by customers through the 'friends of fresh&easy' email program, will be featured on a reusable bag available in stores by the end of the year. For designing the winning bag, Close will receive a year's worth of free groceries.*

Fresh & Easy's Design-A-Bag contest generated more than 1,300 submissions through its website, www.freshandeasy.com/designabag. The top eight designs became finalists and were chosen based on originality and creativity. Nearly 24,000 votes were cast by "friends of fresh&easy," customers who have signed up to receive the latest news about the company along with exclusive discounts at www.freshandeasy.com/friends.

"I was absolutely thrilled when I found out that I won the bag design contest and want to thank Fresh & Easy's customers for voting for my design," said Josephine Close. "I wanted to create a piece of art versus another bag with a lot of branding. Instead of drawing fruits and vegetables, I used their naturally-occurring colors to represent them in what I thought was a very abstract and unique way."

"We want to offer reusable bags that people really want to use, so it made sense to enlist the creativity of our customers to help design them," said Roberto Munoz, Fresh & Easy Director of Neighborhood Affairs. "We're happy so many customers voted for their favorite design and look forward to introducing Josephine's reusable bag into our range later this year."

Fresh & Easy launched the Design-A-Bag Contest as part of a continued effort to encourage its customers to use reusable bags. The company currently offers many affordable reusable bag options, including one for only 99-cents. More information on Josephine Close can be found on the company's blog, http://blog.freshandeasy.com/2010/07/new-fresh-bag-custom-made-by-customer.html.

*Valued at $5,000

About Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market

Fresh & Easy operates more than 150 stores in California, Arizona and Nevada. In addition to wholesome, fresh prepared meals, meats and produce, Fresh & Easy offers everyone's favorite national brand products and household items, all at unbelievably low prices. The grocer's popular fresh&easy brand products contain no artificial colors, flavors or added trans fats and use preservatives only when absolutely necessary.

On average, Fresh & Easy stores use 30% less energy than a typical supermarket, which helps customers save money – and also helps the environment. At its distribution center in Riverside, CA, the company invested $13 million in a solar roof installation, which at 500,000 square feet is one of California's largest.

Fresh & Easy opened its first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certified store last year and is a pilot member of the LEED Volume Certification Program, demonstrating its commitment to build sustainable buildings.

For more information about Fresh & Easy, visit www.freshandeasy.com. Also follow the company on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/fresh_and_easy and become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/freshandeasy.

SOURCE Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market