“Thank You”, two simple words that when put together can put a smile on someone’s face. Sometimes it is to a family member, sometimes it is to a customer, but today I am saying “Thank You” to you.

2015 has been a year of tremendous accomplishments for Acme Fresh Market. Acme 21 our Green location has been open a full year and continues to build its market share, Acme 1 is undergoing an extensive remodel and is looking better every day, and we have grown our sales and market share in 2015. None of this happens without the support and dedication of you and our 2,300 Acme associates.

So as 2015 comes to a close, “Thank You”. May you and your family have a joyous holiday season.

A Time to Give Thanks

Go to www.acmestores.com to read the e-BREEZE online! Associates can read the e-BREEZE on the Acme Fresh Market web portal!

Holiday 2015 Observations

JIM TROUTPRESIDENT

Jim Trout President

Happy Holidays!

HOLIDAY POWERHOUSE ITEMS • HIDDEN GEMS • NEW ITEMS

Acme’s goal is to win the Holiday, and we will win by creating and satisfying the needs of our customer. We will satisfy those needs by fulfilling shopping lists and ensuring the shelves are full. We will create need by creatively displaying items throughout the

store that tie-in with key holiday items. We do this every day at Acme. The holidays, however, present a different challenge because of all of the seasonal items that truly only sell once a year. Are we in stock on La Choy Chestnuts for casserole dishes? Is the Knorr Vegetable Mix tied in with the Pumpernickel bread in our bakeries? Do we have red and green Over the Top Sprinkles in our baking displays? The list of seasonal items is a mile long, but I’d like to take the time to write about three products that speak to the Year of the Product at Acme: a powerhouse holiday item, a hidden gem, and something brand new to our stores.

Bailey’s Irish Cream is a great seller year round, but did you know it is the number one selling item in our wine departments for December? Last year, we were up over 40% in sales on Bailey’s and this year, the deal is even better! You will notice big displays in our stores as we are trying to both create and satisfy need on this number one item. Our Customers are telling us that (for those over 21!)

Bailey’s goes great with coffee on a cold winter’s day.You wouldn’t think lasagna would be a hidden gem, but

lasagna sales spike over the Holidays. Walking the store with Russ Fern the other day, he mentioned that “not everyone eats prime rib and ham for the holidays.” He didn’t say it exactly in those words, if you know Russ, but he was spot-on nonetheless. Food Club lasagna noodles, Hunts 29 oz. tomato sauce, new Food Club Ricotta Cheese, and Food Club Mozzarella Shreds are down the middle for Acme. To capture this business and to create need, we built displays of Food Club lasagna in all of the stores in the meat department. It’s a hearty, cold weather meal that feeds a lot of people: perfect for a holiday party.

Putting on my General Merchandise hat, the holidays and gift giving go hand and hand. This year, we have a new line of products to sell… Legos! This timeless toy is perfect as a stocking stuffer or for under the tree. We have a 4-foot assortment in the stores, and it is selling great. In fact, it already makes up over 25% of the toys that we sell in our everyday toy sets.

Whether it’s staple items like Baileys, hidden gems like lasagna, or new items like Legos, Acme has to be in stock for our customers. Satisfying 100% of our customers’ grocery list and creating impulse purchases with creative displays will lead to a successful holiday season for Acme. When the day is done, you can sit back and relax with a Welch’s Sparkling Grape Juice, Cranberry 7 UP, or a Hartzler Dairy Egg Nog and have a Happy Holidays!

JON ALBRECHT DIRECTOR OF CENTER STORE SALES

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DAVE NESTORDIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING

GETTING THE MESSAGE OUT

Acme Fresh Market reaches out each week to as many customers as possible and invites them to shop in our stores. That invitation includes our weekly specials, our lead price items like 59¢ Turkeys, our quality message like our Gold Standard Hams, and our special

events like The Wine and Cheese Weekends. During the Holidays these efforts are actually increased

as November and December become our busiest months. How do we get the message out? Acme Fresh Market reaches over a half a million homes each week with our print ads. Our Print ad is also online and gets tens of thousands of page views a month. Our fastest growing method of communication is email. When we have special events in a week, we triple our email reach.

Drive down any leg of the expressway and you’ll see an electronic billboard with an Acme Fresh Market

message. You can imagine with the traffic counts how many impressions we’re making here. It’s a lot! Acme Fresh Market is reaching out in a number of different ways including Mobile Deals as consumers’ preferences change on how they want to receive their weekly sale information.

In the past it was primarily a print ad that you received in the newspaper. Now with the internet, many consumers want their information digitally. Acme Fresh Market is evolving to meet the needs of consumers. You will continue to see us use more digital and electronic ways to reach out and invite customers to come shop at Acme Fresh Market!

We’re shouting loud with our weekly messages to drive customers into your store!

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TIPS & TRICKS ON HOLIDAY MERCHANDISINGBILL HALIKO

STORE DIRECTOR ACME NO. 11

I’ve been asked to give my secret recipe for Holiday merchandising. Colonel Sanders took his secret recipe to his grave. I plan on sharing my closest friend’s recipes for success.

Take a full cup of planning well in advance and include your entire family in this process. Don’t forget to include General Merchandise. After thoughts don’t mix well. Add a pinch of Jim Trout’s “less is More” bigger is better theory. I was the first to make massive displays of Bakery Pumpkin rolls and grew that into a Huge Bake Sale. As Henry Nagel says, Listen to your gut. Be hungry!! Have enough for the entire family! Have a vision of the finished pie. Mike Harget says customers shop with their eyes so be aware of how the end result looks. Well signed and impressive so they are wanting to share with others what they see.

Russ Fern says invite your customers as guests into your home. Be proud to show off what a beautiful home should look like. I take a personal interest in every display every day making sure I’m proud to have them see what I have to offer. A dash of Clean, Neat and Safe, will have your customers being Highly Satisfied Customers (HSC). Ed Harrison says make sure all your ingredients in your cupboards are full. Grocery 101. Keep your pantry full.

My recipe for displays is that they must be unique. Sprinkle on something extra to add spice. Give your display an angle, make it a round, or make it a raised two tier cake. Adding food color will get their attention.

My second grade teacher taught me the thought process of creating a perfect sentence was to use the 5 W’s. Who, What, Where, When and Why and then they threw in How. This also works with displays. Answer these questions in making your displays and you will make a complete display that will impress everyone.• Who is going to build the display? Who is going to buy it?• What is needed to be added to the product to make it complete? Food Club? General merchandise?• Where is the best place to get the most exposure that it has the best opportunity to sell?• When to build it (is it seasonal?) Is it on sale? Advertised with a coupon in the paper? • Why should the display be up? Is it old and should come down? Worked to the shelf? • And sometimes How. How can I make it better than any other stores displays?

My last thought is to Create Need. Banana Billy Bread is coming and it is wonderful!! Look for it at your local Acme Fresh Market store. YUM! Thanks; Billy the Baker

Holiday display inside Acme No. 11

KATIE SWARTZDIRECTOR OF MARKETING

ACME FRESH MARKET GIFT CARDS & NEW CATERING GIFT CARDS

Question: What is Acme’s most profitable sale?

Answer: Acme Fresh Market gift cards!

During the holiday season, everyone is looking for the perfect gift – a challenge as you

probably know from personal experience! Acme Fresh Market gift cards are perfect because “Everybody Loves an Acme Fresh Market Gift Card!”

Also, this Holiday Season we are Introducing a wonderful new product - NEW Dinner Delivered! Gift Cards! Hot Delicious Meals prepared by Acme Fresh Market Catering and delivered to your door!

Acme Fresh Market Dinner Delivered! Gift Cards are a special holiday gift!

Ask customers this holiday season if they would like to add an Acme Fresh Market gift card to their order – and tell them about the Acme Fresh Market Dinner Delivered! Gift Card!

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HIGHLY SATISFIED CUSTOMERSED HARRISON

DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS

Wow! 2015 is speeding by! The Holidays are here – my favorite time of the year at Acme. During the Holidays, Acme associates shine with great customer service! Acme associates work hard to fulfill our customer’s needs. We do that by focusing on the basics

of our business, and by executing the basics better than our competition.

First, Grocery 101. Keep the Shelves Full! Our customers trust Acme to have every item on their holiday shopping list. Acme associates work hard every day to keep all departments in our stores stocked and ready for business! Fulfilling the needs of our customers with Grocery 101 creates Highly Satisfied Customers that will return to our stores.

Second, Friendly People, Fast Checkout. Acme associates smiling and acknowledging our customers, saying “Hello”, “May I Help You?”, and “Thank You” keep Acme a friendly place to shop. Our Acme team knows how important Fast Checkout is to our customers. Our Fast Checkout Goal – open another register if there are more than 3 customers in a line. Our Acme team reacts to busy rushes with “All Hands on Deck!” service!

Creating Highly Satisfied Customers is not easy. Hard Work creates Highly Satisfied Customers. Hard Work keeps the shelves full and all departments in our stores stocked. Hard Work creates Highly Satisfied Customers that return to Acme!

Our Acme team works harder than our competition. We create Highly Satisfied Customers with Grocery 101 and Friendly People, Fast Checkout.

We receive thousands of compliments from Highly Satisfied Customers each year and award each associate that receives a compliment with a gold star to wear proud on their name badge. Below are a few recent compliments – Great job!

I broke a jar of pasta sauce, and Chris was SO kind! He took care of my mess… thank you so much!

– Elizabeth

Best service today! I needed a unique item and Paulette made sure I got it! She ordered it, and had it waiting for me at the Service Counter! Thank you!

– Jeanne

Tracy delivered excellent customer service. She was friendly, smiled, and was so knowledgeable of what is offered at the store. It was a pleasure to experience such positive, uplifting customer service!

– Tonja

Our cashier, Ashley, was extremely courteous, kind, and efficient! She made my shopping experience a pleasure!

– Sue

Tim in the deli is awesome! He went out of his way to give me my ham sliced just the way I like it, and he pointed out the coupon on the counter. Very polite!

– Marilyn

Curtis was so very polite and kind when I visited the State Road store one midday with my newborn baby. He loaded up a separate cart with my groceries so as not to disturb my sleeping baby in her carrier, then pushed the cart out to my car without me having to ask. He unloaded all of my groceries into my car for me and asked if I needed any other help. I imagined it was like full-service shopping used to be, from start to finish. I have never had the pleasure of such ease and service in shopping as I did that day. Curtis seemed to truly enjoy helping out, and he is an old school professional. Thank you, Curtis.

– Erica

Thank You! Thank you for your hard work every day to make Acme a friendly and convenient place to shop. I am very proud to be a member of the Acme Team

along with each of you! Thank you and Happy Holidays!