Giant Eagle, Inc. Completes Rollout of SofTechnics' SoftGrocer(TM)

AKRON, OH, October 11, 2005 -- SofTechnics, a leading provider of integrated retail enterprise software solutions, announced today that Giant Eagle, Inc, one of the largest, privately owned and family-operated companies in the nation with annual sales of nearly $5.5 billion, has successfully completed the rollout of SofTechnics' SoftGrocer(TM). Founded in 1931, Giant Eagle, Inc. has grown to be the number one supermarket retailer in the region with 138 corporate and 78 independently owned and operated stores in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, and Maryland.
 
SoftGrocer is a GTIN compliant, full-featured price and inventory management solution with flexibility that allows you to implement and maintain data and systems where you want. No longer will software dictate where you locate store data within the enterprise. SoftGrocer can be deployed either "thick," where the data resides in each store on the ISP or "thin," where data is centralized at regional or corporate data centers. SoftGrocer employs a flexible architecture that allows the retailer to design the application screens, choose which data fields are displayed, and configure the application to meet their specific work flow requirements.

The implementation of SoftGrocer has provided Giant Eagle with a thin client architecture that enabled them to move their Direct Store Delivery (DSD) application from the store server to their corporate data center. The thin environment will facilitate easier systems upgrades, the implementation of new applications, data maintenance, system support, and the elimination of the store ISP.

"Giant Eagle is pleased to have partnered with SofTechnics, being the first and largest chain to implement SoftGrocer," said Mike Krugle, Vice President, Applications Engineering. "We believe that SoftGrocer is the architectural solution that allows us to replace our legacy DSD system and also lay the groundwork to systematically address current and future supply chain concerns. We are pleased with SofTechnics' approach, implementing the solution to improve our business process, not requiring Giant Eagle to change our business practices to meet their software requirements."

"We are pleased that Giant Eagle has selected SofTechnics to provide the infrastructure that is critical to their success. The solution they have implemented will help them attain enhanced customer satisfaction, and optimize inventory and price integrity," said Guy Dille, Global Business Unit Leader, Retail Software & Integration for Mettler-Toledo. "We are now deployed in over 600 sites with SoftGrocer -- proving the value delivered by the thin client platform for our grocery customers. Our focus continues to be delivering best-in-class retail solutions to our customers."

SofTechnics, a Mettler-Toledo Company, is the leading provider of mobile price and inventory management solutions for the retail industry. SofTechnics' proven mobile computing applications have been implemented by many of the largest retailers in North America. The industry acceptance of these applications is the result of over 20 years of experience developing mobile solutions and the extensive retail backgrounds of the associates of SofTechnics. The company is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, with development offices in Akron, Ohio and Des Moines, Iowa plus 14 sales and support offices across the United States.