Bangkok August 28, 2006; The first Tops Daily mini-supermarket located on a gas station site will make its debut in Bangkok later this year.

The new Tops Daily mini-supermarket will be located at Caltex’s station on Petchkasem Road. It will be operated by Central Food Retail, as part of a pilot project being run in conjunction with Chevron (Thailand) Ltd., the owner of the Caltex-branded gas stations in Thailand.

This first in-station Tops Daily outlet is scheduled to open in October and could be followed by as many as 40 more in-station Tops Daily outlets, if the pilot is deemed successful by Central Food Retail and Chevron.

Collaboration between the two retail giants would bring together Thailand’s largest supermarket operator, Central Food Retail, and Thailand’s largest international oil investor, Chevron, in an effort to jointly better serve their customers’ needs.

Mr. Ian Pye, President of Central Food Retail Company Limited, said this can be another way of providing Tops Daily customers with a convenient shopping experience. “Putting Tops Daily mini-supermarkets in Caltex stations would provide customers with the added convenience of grocery stores in easily accessible locations, near home or on the way to and from work,“ he said.

“With tremendous growth and warmly welcome from neighborhood community at the first three Tops Daily opened, we believe that the concept of mini-supermarket will serve to modern lifestyle and able to offer premium products for every visitor of Caltex stations.

Tops Daily is a fresh, modern approach by Central Food Retail and part of a three year plan to upgrade and reformat the Tops brand, revamping existing supermarkets and implementing an expansion plan for all the company’s supermarket formats.

Central Food Retail’s brand reformatting for its family of supermarkets, including Tops Daily, is backed by an 800 million Baht investment and has resulted in making it one of the world’s fastest growing supermarket operators in 2005. Over the next three years, Central Food Retail will increase their market share and store sales are expected to double, reaching 30 billion Baht by 2010.

Chevron currently operates a network of about 430 Caltex stations in the Kingdom, including 200 with Star Mart convenience stores. Chevron will continue to operate and expand its existing Star Mart convenience store network, the company indicated.

“We feel the Tops Daily mini-grocery complements and enhances our core business, for an improved shopping experience”, said Ralph Perry, Country Chairman and General Manager, Marketing for Chevron (Thailand) Limited.