Wednesday, September 10, 2003

Iowa's largest grocery store chain honored one of its original leaders Tuesday in a ceremony in West Des Moines. Dwight VREDENBURG, one of the founders of the Hy-Vee foods, died last year at the age of 88. Hy-Vee spokesperson, Ruth MITCHELL says the company wanted to honor the legacy of VREDENBURG, and did so by unveiling a life-size bronze statue. MITCHELL says VREDENBURG was a unique person. She says all the store managers picked him to be the leader when the company incorporated in 1938, even though he was only 23-years-old. MITCHELL says the company grew immensely under VREDENBURG's leadership. She says the company started with a general store in Beaconsfield, Iowa in Ringgold County in 1930 with VREDENBURG's dad and a partner, Charles HYDE. There were 15 stores when Dwight VREDENBURG took over the company. MITCHELL says the company continued to grow under its current name. She says the name Hy-Vee combined the name of the founders, and the company now has 219 stores across seven states. The events Tuesday also included a reunion of Hy-Vee employees.

Radio Iowa News

NOTE: The bronze figure of VREDENBURG stands next to a bronze bench, upon which are items emblematic of his business life: copies of The Wall Street Journal and The Des Moines Register - he started each day of work reading both - a handwritten ledger containing records for the earliest HYDE & VREDENBURG stores, and a rolled-up set of building plans for a new Hy-Vee. Inscribed on a plaque are Dwight VREDENBURG's own words: "Customers go where they are invited and stay where they are well-treated."

See History of Beaconsfield for photograph of the First Hy-Vee Store.

SOURCE:
Radio Iowa News
http://www.allbusiness.com/retail-trade/food-stores/4265132-1.html