FIRST EVER CHICAGO'S CHOICE AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED AT THE JANUARY 2003 CHICAGO GIFT & HOME MARKET™

Merchandise Mart Properties, Inc. (MMPI) is pleased to announce that Picnic at Ascot was recognized as a winner of the first ever Chicago's Choice Award at the January 2003 Chicago Gift & Home Market™ for their Provencal Picnic Cooler. This new award acknowledges distinctive products and product lines represented in Beckman's Handcrafted Gift Show™ Chicago and the temporaries in The Merchandise Mart's 8th Floor Market Suites at the Chicago Gift & Home Market.

"The temporaries at the Chicago Gift & Home Market are a great source of innovative new product," said Joan Ulrich, vice president of leasing and marketing, Chicago Gift & Home Market, MMPI. "Chicago's Choice is designed to reward and recognize creativity, and to help our retailers find some of the newest product in the industry."

For the January 2003 Market, 31 Chicago's Choice Awards were presented to manufacturers from various categories with products that display quality, innovation, creativity and ingenuity as selected by a panel of industry professionals that included: John Saxtan, editor-in-chief, Giftware News; Alonso "Joe" Irriarte, designer; Todd Nyenhuis, designer; Jody Ossman, visual merchandiser, Mahon Marketing; Lisa Skolnik, freelance writer, Lucky, Metropolitan Home and Chicago Tribune; and Michael Hupp, buyer, Kirlin's.

For more information about the Chicago's Choice Awards and the Chicago Gift & Home Market, visit www.merchandisemart.com or call 800.677.6278(MART).

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