industry retail grocery founded beaconsfield iowa 1930 founders charles hyde david vredenburg headquarters west des moines iowa number of locations 240 2016 1 key people randy edeker chairman ceo and president mike skokan executive vice president chief financial officer and treasurer jay marshall executive vice president chief operating officer andy mccann vice chairman executive vice president chief administrative officer sheila laing executive vice president government industry relations chief customer officer darren baty executive vice president eastern region brett bremser executive vice president western region products bakery catering dairy deli frozen foods gas general grocery meat and seafood pharmacy healthmarket market grille wine & spirits general merchandise lawn & garden floristry fuel convenience stores . revenue 9.3 billion 2015 number of employees 82 000 1 website hy vee.com hy vee ha vi is an employee owned chain of more than 240 supermarkets located throughout the midwestern united states in iowa illinois kansas minnesota missouri nebraska south dakota and wisconsin . the largest hy vee stores are full service supermarkets with bakeries delicatessens floral departments dine in and carryout food service wine and spirits pharmacies healthmarkets natural and organic products and coffee kiosks caribou coffee and starbucks . hy vee has also added fuel stations with convenience stores fitness centers and full service restaurants to some of its properties . hy vee has a rewards program called fuel saver perks which gives customers a discount on gas for buying special items each week in their ad . 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 . 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 . the slogan became a jingle in the 1990s with music by annie meacham and james poulsen . hy vee s largest store opened march 10 2015 in bloomington illinois with 108 000 square feet 10 000 m2 of retail space . 2 the hy vee market grille logo . a hy vee store in dubuque iowa . contents 1 history 1.1 early years and general supply company 1.2 50s and 60s 1.3 70s 80s and 90s 1.4 current era 1.5 information and statistics 1.6 presidents and ceos 2 sponsorships 3 subsidiaries 4 notable employees 5 references 6 external links history edit early years and general supply company edit starting in 1917 vredenburg & lewis david vredenburg s previous partnership operated stores as part of the general supply company a 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 . when incorporated david vredenburg was president and charles hyde was a member of the board of directors . in 1924 charles hyde left the general supply company and started his own store in cameron missouri . in 1927 hyde purchased a half stake of a kellerton iowa store the other half being owned by the general supply company whose president was vredenburg . 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 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 independently outside of their partnership at this time . hyde and vredenburg s partnership was briefly dissolved for approximately six months in 1935 after iowa enacted the chain tax act of 1935 a heavy tax against chain stores which 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 . in creating the new company its management plan involved autonomy by individual store managers setting the stage for its 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 with names such as hyde s service store vredenburg s grocery and hyde & vredenburg which were all changed in 1952 . 3 4 50s and 60s edit the hy vee name a contraction of hyde and vredenburg was adopted in 1952 as the winning entry of an employee contest . the first store to open under the hy vee name opened in fairfield iowa in 1953 . in 1956 hy vee introduced its first private label products along with a new logo for the hy vee name . 5 in 1957 hy vee opened its first in store bakery in the iowa city iowa store . in 1960 the company became employee owned by the employees trust fund . 6 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 hy vee had 66 stores at the end of 1969 . 70s 80s and 90s edit hy vee continued expanding during the 1970s and 1980s opening stores in south dakota 1975 nebraska 1977 illinois 1979 and kansas 1988 . 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 . 7 in 1994 hy vee updated its 30 year old logo which is the logo that is used today . in 1995 hy vee moved its corporate headquarters from chariton to its current home in west des moines iowa while shortening its name to hy vee inc. the company still has its primary distribution center in chariton ; a second distribution center is located in cherokee iowa . in 1997 the first hy vee gas a convenience store and gas station opened in davenport iowa . as of august 2015 there are over 125 hy vee gas locations 8 in 1998 hy vee introduced online grocery shopping . items could be ordered online or by phone for delivery or pickup from certain stores . 9 current era edit in 2005 hy vee renamed all drug town stores to hy vee drugstores in order to reflect the relationship between the chain s pharmacies and supermarkets . 10 shortly after same sex marriage became legal in iowa in april 2009 hy vee expanded their spousal benefits to include gay couples . the new policy was implemented on all hy vee stores even in states such as nebraska south dakota kansas and missouri that did not protect gay individuals . this action made hy vee one of the first companies in the midwest to give gay couples the same benefits as straight couples . 11 some of hy vee s customers were upset by this decision and wrote letters to the ceo stating that they would no longer shop at hy vee . 12 hy vee expanded into wisconsin in 2009 with a store in madison wisconsin . this was also hy vee s first leed certified store . 13 hy vee has 6 leed certified stores as of july 2015 . 14 in 2012 hy vee inc. began the hy vee fuel saver program which allows customers to earn discounts on fuel by purchasing select items . the discount is loaded onto a card that is inserted at the gas pump of all hy vee gas locations casey s general stores and certain shell oil company stations . customers have thirty days to use the earned points before they expire . 15 in 2013 hy vee introduced hy vee market fresh grille a full service restaurant attached to stores . the name was later changed to hy vee market grille because of legal reasons . hy vee also had locations named hy vee market caf which had a smaller menu . all market caf locations changed their name to market grille in 2016 . as of january 2016 there were 81 market grille locations 16 in 2015 hy vee introduced hy vee aisles online a new website for their online grocery shopping . items can now be ordered from any store for delivery or pickup . in 2015 hy vee changed its hy vee fuel saver program to hy vee fuel saver perks which provides exclusive deals and rewards in addition to the gas discount . as well as exclusive deals fuel saver perks also tracks the buying habits of individuals in order to make the system more personalized . 17 hy vee opened its first two stores in the twin cities market on september 22 2015 . according to randy edeker hy vee s ceo he intends for the twin cities area to be hy vee s largest market some day . hy vee says it plans to open four to five stores to the twin cities area annually for the next ten years . 18 construction is underway for a store in downtown des moines . the 30 million project will include a 35 000 square foot grocery store 82 apartments above the store a two story parking ramp and space for a possible second phase of housing . the store is scheduled to open in november of 2016 will be the first hy vee in a downtown market . 19 information and statistics edit hy vee is known to move departments into separate buildings as requirements dictate or for optimal customer service . this is commonly seen in the construction of a separate building for hy vee gas usually near a main store . it is also common for hy vee to have attached liquor stores which is the case in minnesota where grocery stores are not allowed to sell alcoholic beverages over 3.2 % alcohol by volume . in some cases there is a completely separate building for the liquor department such as the prairie village kansas store where the liquor store is across the street in kansas city missouri and adheres to missouri alcohol laws instead of the laws of kansas . hy vee ranked 2nd on the national center for employee ownership s list of largest employee owned companies in 2011 . 20 hy vee ranked 32nd on forbes magazine s annual list of the largest privately owned companies in the united states in 2016 . 21 hy vee ranked 27th on top 75 north american food retailers by supermarket news in 2016 . 22 hy vee ranked 4th on america s favorite grocery retailers by market force information in 2016 . 23 as of 2016 hy vee inc. employs over 82 000 persons and is the largest private employer in the state of iowa . the company has annual sales over 9.3 billion . presidents and ceos edit hy vee has only had 4 leaders in its 85 year history 24 dwight vredenburg son of founder david vredenburg became hy vee s first president at 23 years old . he served as president for 45 years . president 1938 1983 ceo 1978 1989 chairman of the board 1978 1989 ron pearson hy vee s