Shopko Begins Construction on Chute Gerdeman-Designed Prototype Store

Green Bay, WI—Shopko has begun construction on its first new full-line retail store to be built in nearly seven years. The new prototype design was unveiled, along with a new logo and current tagline (“My Life. My Style. My Store.”), at a recent groundbreaking ceremony in Suamico, north of Green Bay. The creative team behind the new design and logo was Chute Gerdeman Retail, the Columbus-based retail design firm that has received numerous awards for its design leadership.

“Shopko is a well-established retail brand, with a management team that is forward thinking and customer focused,” said Chute Gerdeman co-founder and Principal Denny Gerdeman. “We are honored to have had the opportunity to work with them on this major project.”

The new design, which will be used for future Shopko stores, incorporates a number of elements that give the store a stronger connection to women shoppers. The store’s color, lighting and fixturing all have been redesigned to create a warm, inviting, residential environment that allows the customer to easily see the merchandise and visualize how it might look in her home or on her body.

The store layout will feature the Pharmacy and Optical Center at the front of the store for added convenience. Both departments will feature comfortable customer seating zones. The drive aisles and signage in the store are designed to make the customer shopping experience more efficient. Department adjacencies have been re-aligned and merchandise “stories” have been created. All parts of the store will allow for navigation by strollers and carts.

“You always have to stay fresh, the customer demands that,” said Shopko Chairman and CEO Mike MacDonald. “What we tried to accomplish with this new store is a softer look and a more inviting atmosphere.”

The 80,000-square foot store will be located on eight acres in a new 28-acre development being led by Midwest Expansion. The store is projected to open in the spring of 2008.

About Chute Gerdeman Retail
Since 1989, Chute Gerdeman Retail, based in Columbus, OH, has created retail brands, their identities, their environments, and every other customer touch point, including brand communication materials, merchandising fixtures, and packaging. The firm’s client list includes: M&M’S® (Mars), Walt Disney Imagineering, Target, Levi Strauss, 7-Eleven, Sheetz, Chili’s, Einstein Brothers Café, KFC (Japan), Marriott Vacation Club Resorts, Smithsonian, Kohl’s, Club Libby Lu, Pepsi-Cola, CompUSA, Nationwide Arena, Philips Arena and Lowe’s. In 2006, the firm was voted “Designer of the Year” by readers of DDI (Display & Design Ideas) magazine in addition to the numerous awards it has received for design leadership. The company’s work for M&M’S World® Orlando was recently recognized as “International Store of the Year” by the Institute of Store Planners, a professional design organization. For more information, go to www.chutegerdeman.com.

About Shopko
Shopko Stores Operating Co., LLC is an affiliate of Sun Capital Partners, Inc., a leading private investment firm focused on leverage buyouts, equity, debt, and other investments in market-leading companies that can benefit from its in-house operating professionals and experience. Shopko is a $2.2 billion retailer of quality goods and services headquartered in Green Bay, Wis., with stores located in 13 states throughout the Midwest, Mountain and Pacific Northwest regions. Retail formats include 132 Shopko stores, providing quality name-brand merchandise, great values, pharmacy and optical services in mid-sized to larger cities and three Shopko Express Rx stores, a convenient neighborhood drugstore concept. For more information, please visit www.shopko.com.