Hy-Vee
Hy-Vee, Inc., is an employee-owned chain of supermarkets in the Midwestern and Southern United States, with more than 280 locations in Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wisconsin, with stores planned in Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama. Hy-Vee was founded in 1930 by Charles Hyde and David Vredenburg in Beaconsfield, Iowa, in a small brick building known as the Beaconsfield Supply Store, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The largest Hy-Vee stores are full-service supermarkets with bakeries, delicatessens, floral departments, dine-in and carryout food service, wine and spirits, pharmacies, salad bars, health clinics, HealthMarkets and coffee kiosks. The company maintains fuel stations with convenience stores, fitness centers, and full-service restaurants at some of its properties, including Wahlburgers, a chain made famous by the same-titled A&E reality series. Hy-Vee's largest store in the United States opened June 13, 2023, in Gretna, Nebraska, with nearly of retail space. Even larger stores of are planned for Zionsville, Indiana, and Louisville, Kentucky; the Zionsville store has no set opening date, while the Louisville location expected to open in 2023 was yet to be built as of June 2025.
Hy-Vee's longtime advertising slogan, "Where there's a helpful smile in every aisle", was adopted for the chain's first television commercial in 1963. In the 1990s, the slogan became a jingle with music by Annie Meacham and James Poulsen. Hy-Vee is known as the "Pride of Des Moines".
History
Early years and General Supply Company
Starting in 1917, Vredenburg & Lewis, David Vredenburg's previous partnership, operated stores as part of the General Supply Company, an RLDS Church-owned company based in Lamoni, Iowa.In 1921, Charles Hyde started working for the General Supply Company's store in Woodbine, Iowa, which was operated by Vredenburg & Lewis. In 1922, the General Supply Company was formally incorporated. Vredenburg was president and Hyde was a member of the board of directors. In 1924, Hyde left the General Supply Company and started his store in Cameron, Missouri.
In 1927, Hyde purchased a half stake of a store in Kellerton, Iowa, the other half being owned by the General Supply Company. In 1930, Vredenburg and Hyde started a separate partnership from the General Supply Company, named Supply Stores, and opened their first store in Beaconsfield, Iowa.
In 1932, The General Supply Company was dissolved because of the effects of the Great Depression. Vredenburg purchased most of the former General Supply Company's remaining stores and mill. Both Hyde and Vredenburg owned and operated other stores outside of their partnership. Hyde and Vredenburg's partnership was dissolved for approximately six months in 1935 after Iowa enacted the Chain Tax Act of 1935, a heavy tax against chain stores that was later declared unconstitutional.
In 1938, Hyde & Vredenburg, Inc. was officially incorporated, with 15 stores in Iowa and Missouri. The incorporation consolidated all of Hyde's and Vredenburg's independently owned stores with the stores they had in their partnership. The company was headquartered in Lamoni. The new company's management plan involved autonomy for store managers, setting the stage for eventual employee ownership.
In 1945, Hyde & Vredenburg moved its corporate headquarters from Lamoni to Chariton, Iowa, after acquiring the Chariton Wholesale Company.
The Supply Store name, with each town's name preceding it, was still used on most stores until 1952. A few stores were named differently, such as Hyde's Service Store, Vredenburg's Grocery, and Hyde & Vredenburg, all changed in 1952.
1950s and 1960s
The Hy-Vee name, a portmanteau of Hyde and Vredenburg, was adopted in 1952 as the winning entry of an employee contest, with three employees submitting the name. The first store with the name opened in Fairfield, Iowa, in 1953. In 1956, Hy-Vee introduced its first private-label products and a new logo. In 1957, Hy-Vee opened its first in-store bakery at the Iowa City, Iowa, store.In 1960, the company became employee-owned by the Employees' Trust Fund. The slogan "Where There's a Helpful Smile in Every Aisle" was first used in a TV commercial in 1963. The company's name was officially changed to Hy-Vee Food Stores, Inc., in 1963.
In 1969, Hy-Vee expanded into Minnesota after acquiring the Swanson Stores chain based in Cherokee, Iowa. In 1969, Hy-Vee opened its first Drug Town, a pharmacy separate from a regular store, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. At the end of 1969, Hy-Vee had 66 stores.
1970s, 1980s, and 1990s
Hy-Vee continued expanding during the 1970s and 1980s, opening stores in South Dakota, Nebraska, Illinois, and Kansas. In 1975, Hy-Vee's 100th store, which was also its first to use electronic cash registers, opened in Keokuk, Iowa. By the end of 1989, Hy-Vee had 172 stores in seven states. In 1994, Hy-Vee updated its logo.In 1995, Hy-Vee moved its corporate headquarters from Chariton to West Des Moines, Iowa, and shortened its name to Hy-Vee, Inc. The company's primary distribution center is still in Chariton; a second one is in Cherokee, Iowa.
NFL quarterback Kurt Warner worked at a store in Cedar Falls, Iowa, from 1994 to 1995, before going to play arena football for the Iowa Barnstormers.
2000s
At the turn of the millennium, Hy-Vee increased its focus on customers' healthy lifestyles. HealthMarket private-label products were introduced in 2001. The company also began an initiative to provide customers with the services of corporate and in-store dietitians.Stores began offering an expanded line of ethnic foods to the Midwest's increasingly diverse population. Online shopping capabilities expanded in 2005, with a redesigned Hy-Vee website offering online shopping for such items as holiday meals, floral arrangements, and catering selections; gift cards were added in 2006.
Hy-Vee was selected as Progressive Grocer's Retailer of the Year in 2003. Drug Town stores were renamed Hy-Vee Drugstores in 2005. Hy-Vee celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2005 with the publication of a second company history book. In 2007, Hy-Vee's first store, in Beaconsfield, Iowa, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In the fiscal year 2009, Hy-Vee sales exceeded $6.3 billion; at the time, it was the second-largest employee-owned company in the United States and ranked by Forbes magazine the 48th-largest privately owned company in the country. More than 55,000 employees worked in the Hy-Vee family in 2009.
By the end of 2009, there were 228 stores. In 2009, Hy-Vee moved into its eighth state of operations when the store in Madison, Wisconsin, opened. In December 2009, Hy-Vee's fourth president, Randy Edeker, was selected to lead the company. Ric Jurgens retained the chairman and chief executive officer titles until 2012, when Edeker assumed those roles.
In 2003, Milan, Illinois–based grocer Eagle Food Centers went out of business, and a few of their stores, such as the John Deere Road store in Moline, Illinois, became Hy-Vee stores in the late 2000s.
2010s
In 2010, Hy-Vee expressed interest in building/opening a store in Joplin, Missouri, but the plans fell through when the developer would not negotiate traffic signal installation. Despite this, they retained interest in the area, but according to a Facebook reply in 2016, they have yet to make plans for the Joplin area.In 2012, Hy-Vee introduced its loyalty program, Hy-Vee Fuel Saver, which allows customers to earn discounts on fuel at Casey's General Stores; Shell; PDQ/Kwik Trip, as well as Hy-Vee's own gas stations, by purchasing select items.
Later that year, Hy-Vee began adding full-service restaurants to some stores, such as the Hy-Vee Market Grille.
In 2015, Hy-Vee brought online shopping to all stores with the introduction of its new website, Hy-Vee Aisles Online. The company's loyalty program adopted Hy-Vee Fuel Saver + Perks branding.
In September 2015, Hy-Vee opened its first stores in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area.
In 2016, Hy-Vee began opening clothing boutiques featuring Tesco's F&F brand in select larger locations.
In 2017, Hy-Vee became the exclusive retailer in its service area for sports nutrition products marketed by Mark Wahlberg. This expanded into a deal-making Hy-Vee a franchisee for Wahlburgers restaurants; the first location under the deal opened in May 2018 at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. In 2025, Hy-Vee announced the end of its partnership with Wahlburgers, converting all locations into Market Grille.
Hy-Vee opened its first standalone HealthMarket store in 2018. Much like the in-store health department, also named HealthMarket, the standalone store focuses on health and wellness. The store is a smaller format than regular Hy-Vee stores and contains a pharmacy and attached Orangetheory Fitness.
In 2018, the first-ever Hy-Vee Dollar Fresh store opened up in Osceola, Iowa. This concept offers customers in smaller communities a fresh, new product selection at low prices. Customers will find a full selection of grocery items, a bakery section with a full range of fresh-baked items, a dollar section, a Wall of Value, ready-to-eat meal offerings, and other services.
In 2018, the first Hy-Vee Fast & Fresh convenience store opened in Davenport, Iowa. It offered standard pantry and frozen grocery items alongside fresh produce, dairy, meat, and bakery departments. It also had a gas station, online pickup, wood-oven pizzas, sushi, a craft beer station, wine and spirits section, made-to-order meals, take-and-heat meals, meal kits, and a Starbucks with a drive-thru. Unlike other Hy-Vee locations, the convenience store was not open 24/7; in some markets, Hy-Vee Fast & Fresh was meant to compete with Walmart Neighborhood Market, a similar small-store concept launched in 1998.
In 2019, Hy-Vee announced it would open Joe Fresh clothing sections in stores and replace its existing F&F clothing departments.