City National : Finances Community Development Loan For New Island Pacific Supermarket in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS, NV - City National Bank, Nevada's Premier Private and Business Bank, today announced that it has financed a community development loan for a new Island Pacific Supermarket in Las Vegas, which caters to the Filipino community in southern Nevada. The new store, which is located at 8650 W. Tropicana and the northwest corner of Durango, opened this month with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and other festivities that saw thousands of people visit the new grocery store.

Among the attendees were several representatives from City National. Sal Mendoza, manager of the bank's Community Reinvestment Department, along with Scott Aney, Nevada regional executive, and Paul Stowell, chief market strategist for City National's Nevada region, were part of the grand-opening ceremony. Mendoza was actually invited by the owner of Island Pacific Supermarkets to do the honors of cutting the ribbon marking the official opening of the new 20,000 square foot store, which is the former location of a Fresh & Easy market.

'We are very excited to open our first store in Las Vegas and provide a growing Filipino-American population with a more affordable alternative to quality Filipino and Asian type foods,' said Jeff Lim, president and CEO of Island Pacific Supermarket. 'Our strong relationship with City National Bank made it possible for us to open this store. Sal and his team were great to work with and made it easy for us to obtain the financing we needed to expand into Las Vegas.'

Lim added that he hopes to open additional stores in Las Vegas as the demand grows for Filipino and Asian type foods. With the opening of the Las Vegas store, Island Pacific now has a total of 14 stores in California, Nevada and Washington. Lim opened his first grocery store catering to Filipino-Americans in 1999. In 2002, Lim opened Island Pacific Distribution Inc., which now provides all of the food to his 14 grocery stores. Approximately 80 percent of the food supplied to each store comes from Asia and primarily the Philippines.

'Providing Jeff with the financing he needed to expand into the Las Vegas area was a fairly easy decision for City National given the great relationship we have with him and his highly qualified team,' said Mendoza. 'Jeff is a great example of the type of entrepreneur and business owner

we like to finance through our community development loan program. Island Pacific Supermarket will do well in Las Vegas as the local Filipino community embraces this new grocery store alternative.'

City National partnered with several community-based nonprofit groups to help Island Pacific Supermarket expand into Las Vegas. The National Asian American Coalition (NAAC) lead by President and CEO Faith Bautista was one of those organizations that was instrumental in helping get this transaction done.

Since its founding in 1954, City National has helped fund the development of hundreds of companies in industries ranging from agriculture and manufacturing to entertainment and world trade. City National has provided clients with access to important financial services, including loans that support economic development and job creation. City National fosters healthy communities through small business and community development lending and equity investments in projects that strengthen local neighborhoods.

About Island Pacific Supermarket

Island Pacific is a cohesive team of associates committed to being the number one Filipino supermarket in the United States in terms of market share, profitability, customer service, and associates satisfaction. To realize our vision it is our mission to bring the greatest value to our customers, to exceed the expectations of our stakeholders, and to develop motivated associates working toward achieving a common vision. For more information about Island Pacific Supermarkets, go to www.islandpacificmarket.com.

About City National

With $36.4 billion in assets, City National Bank provides banking, investment and trust services through 75 offices, including 16 full-service regional centers, in Southern California, the San Francisco Bay Area, Nevada, New York City, Nashville and Atlanta. In addition, the company and its investment affiliates manage or administer $53.9 billion in client investment assets.

City National is a subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), one of North America's leading diversified financial services companies. RBC serves more than 16 million personal, business, public sector and institutional clients through offices in Canada, the United States and 38 other countries.

For more information about City National, visit the company's website at cnb.com.

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For an images related to this story, go to:

https://www.cnb.com/PublishingImages/Island-Pacific-Supermarket.jpg

(Caption: City National's Sal Mendoza does the honor of cutting the ribbon for the official opening of the new Island Pacific Supermarket in Las Vegas as store and other dignitaries look on.)

https://www.cnb.com/PublishingImages/Island-Pacific-Supermarket2.jpg

(Caption: City National's Sal Mendoza speaks to the crowd of community leaders and shoppers prior to cutting the ribbon for the opening of the new Island Pacific Supermarket.)