History
2000
At the turn of the century, Hy-Vee increased its focus on customers’ healthy lifestyles. HealthMarket private-label products were introduced in 2001. The company also began its initiative to provide customers with the services of corporate and in-store dietitians. It is an initiative for which Hy-Vee has been highly praised throughout the industry.
In 2000, the company enjoyed the national spotlight when media revealed that Kurt Warner, NFL quarterback for the Super Bowl-bound St. Louis Rams football team and its ultimate victor, had worked as a night stocker for Hy-Vee at its Cedar Falls, Iowa, store, a story repeated when Kurt again played in the 2002 Super Bowl as quarterback for the St. Louis Rams and the 2009 Super Bowl as quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals.
The fourth Hy-Vee logo, red letters on a white background, was unveiled in 2004.
The company opened a number of Hy-Vee Gas stations in the 1990s. It was also a decade in which the company increased prescription services to customers with the acquisition of pharmacies and the opening of more pharmacy departments in the stores.
Stores began offering an expanded line of ethnic foods to the increasingly diverse population of the Midwest. Online shopping capabilities expanded in 2005, with a redesigned Hy-Vee Web site offering online shopping for such items as holiday meals, floral arrangements, catering selections; gift cards were added in 2006.
In 2005, employees were linked through a new intranet called Hy-VeeNet. In 2000 the profit-sharing plan was renamed the Hy-Vee and Affiliates Profit Sharing and 401(k) Plan.
The company redesigned its store interiors in the 1990s and expanded into baby, pets and additional general merchandise departments. In 2008, a newly relocated Des Moines store on Fleur Drive became the company’s largest, with more than 91,000 square feet. At the other end of the shopping spectrum, the company introduced a new, smaller store format with the opening of its first Heartland Pantry in Lincoln, Nebraska, using the name of Hy-Vee’s former convenience store chain. The store focuses on the basics: packaged and canned goods (much of it private-label), fresh produce, dairy, meat and some natural and organic offerings.
Drug Town stores were renamed Hy-Vee Drugstores in 2005. Opening in 2004 was Hy-Vee Hall, the convention/event center part of the Iowa Events Center in downtown Des Moines, for which Hy-Vee had purchased the naming rights.
New technology increased distribution center, office and store services, with advancements in computer capabilities, such as new servers and radio frequency selection, in the distribution centers providing new efficiencies.
Hy-Vee was selected as Progressive Grocer’s Retailer of the Year in 2003.
Hy-Vee celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2005 with the publication of a second company history book (The History of Hy-Vee) and the fourth employee cookbook, the introduction of the Smiles for Education program to benefit schools and students, a $75,000 kitchen makeover contest and the introduction of the popular, free Seasons magazine, which offers tips, recipes and specially priced items to customers.
In 2007, Hy-Vee’s first store, which was located in Beaconsfield, Iowa, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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| Beginning in 2007, Hy-Vee has sponsored the richest purse in triathlon history with the Hy-Vee World Cup Triathlon, held in summer in the Des Moines area. The 2008 event was the final qualifying triathlon for the Beijing Olympics that year. |
Community involvement programs saw record funds raised in support of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) and Variety The Children’s Charity. Some of those funds were raised through sponsorship of such events as the Hy-Vee Classic Senior Women’s Golf Tournament (2000-2006) and its successor event, the Hy-Vee World Cup Triathlon, introduced in 2007. Hy-Vee, its employees stores continued to receive several awards during the decade for its philanthropic and industry achievements, from JDRF, Variety and other groups.
In 2001 Ron Pearson was elected to serve for two years as chair of the Food Marketing Institute, the authoritative voice of the industry. That same year, Ric Jurgens was elected president of Hy-Vee; he was elected chief executive officer in 2003 and to chairman of the board in 2006. Ron Pearson currently serves the company as chairman emeritus.
In fiscal year 2008, Hy-Vee had sales of $6.2 billion; it is the second-largest employee-owned company in the United States and is ranked by Forbes magazine as the 48th-largest privately owned company in the country. There are currently over 55,000 employees working in the Hy-Vee family.
There are currently 225 stores. In 2009, Hy-Vee will move into its eighth state of operations when the store in Madison, Wisconsin, opens.
