Spartan Stores' New Board of Directors Meets, Elects CEO James B. Meyer as Chairman

Business Wire, August 16, 2000

Business Editors

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 16, 2000

Spartan Stores, Inc. (Nasdaq:SPTN) today announced that the company's new Board of Directors met and elected James B. Meyer, Spartan Stores' President and CEO, as Chairman of the Board. The seven-member Board of Directors consists of three directors from Spartan Stores' Board, two directors from Seaway Food Town's Board and two newly elected outside directors.

Mr. Meyer said, "I am very honored to be elected Chairman by my fellow directors. I believe the company has assembled a well-balanced Board that is extremely capable of guiding Spartan Stores and representing shareholder interests during its first year as a publicly traded company."

Spartan Stores' Board of Directors consists of:

-- James B. Meyer (age 54) Mr. Meyer has been the Chief Executive

Officer of Spartan Stores since July 1997 and President and a

director of Spartan Stores since August 1996.

-- Alex J. DeYonker (age 50) Mr. DeYonker is a partner of Warner

Norcross & Judd LLP, a law firm in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Mr.

DeYonker has been a director of Spartan Stores since March

1999 and its General Counsel and Assistant Secretary since May

1995.

-- Elson S. Floyd, Ph.D. (age 44) Dr. Floyd has been the

President and a Professor of Education at Western Michigan

University, a liberal arts university in Kalamazoo, Mich.,

since August 1998. From August 1995 to August 1998, he was the

Executive Vice Chancellor and Clinical Professor of Education

from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, also a

liberal arts university.

-- Richard B. Iott (age 48) Mr. Iott has served as Chief

Executive Officer and President of Seaway Food Town since 1996

and as a director of Seaway since 1987.

-- Joel A. Levine (age 61) Mr. Levine has served as a director of

Seaway Food Town since 1995. Since 1992, he has been Of

Counsel to the Toledo, Ohio, law firm of Spengler Nathanson

PLL.

-- Elizabeth A. Nickels (age 37) Ms. Nickels has been the

Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Herman

Miller, Inc. (Nasdaq: MLHR), an office furniture manufacturing

company, since February 2000. From 1993 to February 2000, she

was Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Universal

Food Products, Inc. (Nasdaq: UFPI), a wood products

manufacturer.

-- Russell H. VanGilder, Jr. (age 66) Mr. Van Gilder is Chairman

of the Board of V.G.'s Food Center, Inc., a chain of 13

grocery stores in southeast Michigan. He has been a director

of Spartan Stores since 1970, serving as Vice Chairman of the

Board from 1992 to 1998 and Chairman from 1998 to 2000.

Mr. Iott and Mr. Levine were appointed to Spartan Stores' Board in conjunction with the merger agreement between Spartan Stores and Seaway Food Town. The other five directors were elected by Spartan Stores' shareholders on July 18th at the annual meeting of shareholders, taking office effective August 1, 2000.

Mr. Meyer's, Dr. Floyd's and Mr. Iott's terms on Spartan Stores' Board expire at the annual meeting of shareholders in 2003. Ms. Nickels's and Mr. VanGilder's terms expire in 2002, and Mr. DeYonker's and Mr. Levine's terms expire in 2001.

Based in Grand Rapids, Mich., Spartan Stores owns and operates 119 supermarkets and drugstores in Michigan and Ohio under the banners of Ashcraft's Markets, Family Fare Supermarkets, Food Town, Glen's Markets, Great Day Markets, and Pharm. The company also serves 400 independent grocery stores and 9,600 convenience stores as a wholesale distributor.