Hy-Vee Food Stores
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Template:Infobox Company Hy-Vee Food Stores is an employee-owned chain of supermarkets located in the Midwestern United States.
As of March 2005, Hy-Vee operates 194 supermarkets in seven states. The company has new locations under construction. Over 100 of those stores are located in Iowa, with additional stores in Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, and South Dakota. They also operate 26 Hy-Vee Drugstores (formerly called DrugTown) in Iowa and Nebraska. Hy-Vee also operates liquor stores under the names Regal Liquors and Hy-Vee Wine & Spirits.
Image:NewDubuqueHyVee.jpg Image:HyVeeHwy20.jpg Most Hy-Vee stores are full-service supermarkets with bakeries, delicatessens, banks, florists, and pharmacies. To keep pace with Wal-Mart's recent expansion into the gas station business, Hy-Vee has also added gas stations with convenience stores on some of its properties. Customers are often given a discount of several cents per gallon of gas when their grocery receipt is shown.
Hy-Vee is known for its longtime advertising slogan, "Where there's a helpful smile in every aisle."
Two-time National Football League MVP Kurt Warner once stocked shelves at a Hy-Vee Store in Cedar Falls. After being cut by the Green Bay Packers at age 24, he thought his football career might be over and worked there to cover bills.
History
In 1930, the first Hy-Vee store was started in Beaconsfield, Iowa, by Charles Hyde and David Vredenburg. More stores were started, and in 1938, they incorporated into Hyde & Vredenburg, Inc. The Hy-Vee name, which is a contraction of the two names, was adopted in 1952. Hy-Vee opened their first DrugTown store in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1969; in 2005 all DrugTown stores were renamed Hy-Vee Drugstores in order to reflect the relationship between the chain's pharmacies and supermarkets. [1]
Hyde & Vredenburg was originally based in Lamoni, Iowa, before moving to Chariton, Iowa, in 1945. Hy-Vee's corporate offices were moved to their current home in West Des Moines, Iowa, in 1995. The company still has its primary distribution center in Chariton; a second distribution center is located in Cherokee, Iowa.
Hy-Vee purchased the naming rights to the Iowa Events Center's exhibition hall in 2001; Hy-Vee Hall was completed in December 2004.
In recent years Hy-Vee has branched out from its retail operations by acquiring several companies that provide services to its stores. Hy-Vee's non-retail subsidiaries are:
- D & D Foods, Inc., a supplier of fresh salads based in Omaha, Nebraska
- Florist Distributing, Inc., a distributor of flowers and plants based in Des Moines, Iowa
- Hy-Vee Care, a pharmaceutical product distributor based in Urbandale, Iowa
- Hy-Vee Weitz, L.C., a construction company based in Des Moines
- Lomar Distributing, Inc., a specialty food distributor based in Des Moines
- The Meyocks Group Inc., an advertising, marketing, and product research firm based in West Des Moines, Iowa
- Midwest Heritage Bank, FSB, a bank based out of Chariton, Iowa
- Perishable Distributors of Iowa, Ltd., a distributor of meat, seafood, and ice cream, based in Ankeny, Iowa
Hy-Vee Inc. employs over 47,000 individuals and is the largest employer in the state of Iowa. The company has annual sales of over $4.6 billion. In 2004, Hy-Vee ranked 31st on Forbes magazine's annual list of the largest privately-owned companies in the United States. [2]
When the rival Eagle Food Centers chain of supermarkets ceased operations, Hy-Vee had purchased several of the locations, most of the buildings at which were demolished and replaced with newer ones. The company often repeats this process with other purchased locations, in order to maintain a consistent corporate image.