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Hy-Vee to drop up to 500 more corporate-level jobs

The. Usiness is a victim of piss poor management decisions. Can’t blame the uniôn, here. Th Old HyVee team understood what their business was and gave it to their customers. You don’t have to be “the cheapest”...you do have to offer a selection, a service be a place where folks wanna go! Hy Vee has always been “ expensive” but they have always been a food grocer leader in Iowa. Seems to me the new management team is learning a hard lesson, right now.
Yes, it didn't work. They probably paid a marketing firm big bucks that did extensive research for them.

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There is a Publix in Florida my wife and I will shop. About a year ago they remodeled
the store completely. They put a sit down cafe-restaurant in the store. It is on the second floor of the store, not on the main floor of grocery shopping. We have not been up there to check it out. Wasn't interested enough.
I don't know if Publix is doing this elsewhere.
 
I know of a person who, as part of their job, required Hy-Vee to do something. Completely legitimate, and backed by the law. Hy-Vee then went to a state agency who overruled the decision and the person ended up being fired.
Not trying to flame but was the state agency wrong? Was that administrative ruling appealed? What was the nature of the issue?
 
While we are bashing HyVee, I would add that I find it a little strange they moved their Hdqtrs from Chariton to WDSM. They could have stayed in Chariton made a real difference in the community Nd its way of life and saved TONS of money.
I think of my own hometown and think of why it is successful. They have two international manufacturing firms in town, but have resisted the temptation of moving their administrative offices and stated local. These two companies are big dogs in small town Iowa, have made a significant difference on what the town has had to offer and kept it prosperous.".Meanwhile, the two companies, through good times and bad, have prospered, too.
There is nothing wrong with being a big fish in a little pond.
 
While we are bashing HyVee, I would add that I find it a little strange they moved their Hdqtrs from Chariton to WDSM. They could have stayed in Chariton made a real difference in the community Nd its way of life and saved TONS of money.
I think of my own hometown and think of why it is successful. They have two international manufacturing firms in town, but have resisted the temptation of moving their administrative offices and stated local. These two companies are big dogs in small town Iowa, have made a significant difference on what the town has had to offer and kept it prosperous.".Meanwhile, the two companies, through good times and bad, have prospered, too.
There is nothing wrong with being a big fish in a little pond.
The problem with that is then you would be living in Chariton. You might love it or have loved it, but it doesn't appeal to 99% of people out there, especially those with the chops to be considered for brass at Hy-Vee.
 
The problem with that is then you would be living in Chariton. You might love it or have loved it, but it doesn't appeal to 99% of people out there, especially those with the chops to be considered for brass at Hy-Vee.
Chariton living can’t be any worse than Pella living, if Hy Vee would have remained a player. There are folks who have moved “in and out of town” that never would have heard of Pella had it not been for Pella Corp or Vermeer. The same probably could have been said for Chariton if HyVee would have stayed there. I remember Chariton in the ‘60’s as being a decent, clean little town..much like Pella n many regards. Since HyVee Levy, that is simply no longer the case, unfortunately. Hell, Chariton is only about an hour from DSM, but when HyVee left the town was devastated. (Hellsbells, folks live in Pella!)
 
Atmosphere is a huge part of the dining out experience. Nobody wants to walk by diapers, toilet paper, and people pushing grocery carts on the way to a dining experience.

might as well setup Applebees at Walmart with the doorway by the Walmart service counter (which is as close as I ever care to get to a 1920’s circus freak show).

the arrogance and stupidity of the idea should have cost somebody their entire career. Anybody who liked that idea needs to work in an entirely different field.

selling fine jewelry at Casey’s probably seems like a good idea to these people.

couple of ideas I would have suggested was maybe offering to do oil changes on your car while shopping. Stick in a deluxe drive thru car wash. Other tedious tasks that need to be done and convenience might sway you to pay a slight premium just to get it crossed off list.
 
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I am not trying to hijack the thread but back in the mid 1990's Maytag moved their dishwasher manufacturing to Jackson, Tennessee. There was an outfit in Chariton that had been building the racks for the Maytag dishwashers. To stay competitive they up and moved to a town right outside Jackson. This hurt Chariton.
Also, Deflecta Shield was right down the road in Corydon, Iowa. They were bought by somebody in Colorado and all production was moved out there. So more job loss for that area.
I forgot about the wire harness manufacturing that was in a coupe of towns in southern Iowa that up and left also.

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Of course Maytag was bought by Whirlpool later and the plant in Jackson, Tennessee
was closed. Plus the rack company.

I have had a history with all these companies. Business comes and goes. Roll with the punches.
 
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I suppose this is the reason why I paid $10.99 for Folgers coffee... just 2 weeks ago it was $8.99. Hy-Vee is the only place nearby that sells my dads brand of cigarettes and its more convenient to shop while we are there but this outright jacking up of prices is ridiculous.
 
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Hy Vee should have stuck with its roots. I didn’t see a huge problem with the gas stations, but partnering with Wahlburgers and other celebs just reeks of desperation. Now they are expanding out East and competing directly with Kroger and Publix - I really don’t see that ending well.

Fareway may have the last laugh when it’s all said and done…there is a real chance that Hy-Vee will go belly-up.
 
Hy Vee should have stuck with its roots. I didn’t see a huge problem with the gas stations, but partnering with Wahlburgers and other celebs just reeks of desperation. Now they are expanding out East and competing directly with Kroger and Publix - I really don’t see that ending well.

Fareway may have the last laugh when it’s all said and done…there is a real chance that Hy-Vee will go belly-up.

Unless it’s Sunday
 
Chariton living can’t be any worse than Pella living, if Hy Vee would have remained a player. There are folks who have moved “in and out of town” that never would have heard of Pella had it not been for Pella Corp or Vermeer. The same probably could have been said for Chariton if HyVee would have stayed there. I remember Chariton in the ‘60’s as being a decent, clean little town..much like Pella n many regards. Since HyVee Levy, that is simply no longer the case, unfortunately. Hell, Chariton is only about an hour from DSM, but when HyVee left the town was devastated. (Hellsbells, folks live in Pella!)
Unfortunately it would have been hard to convince people to move to Chariton or retain the talent long term. Since HV just recently allowed remote work (thanks Covid!), it made sense to move to the big city years ago. Sadly, they were stubborn for a decade too long and could have allowed remote work and saved plenty on office space.
 
Unfortunately it would have been hard to convince people to move to Chariton or retain the talent long term. Since HV just recently allowed remote work (thanks Covid!), it made sense to move to the big city years ago. Sadly, they were stubborn for a decade too long and could have allowed remote work and saved plenty on office space.
You think it is easy to have folks move to any small town in Iowa. However I know it can be done! I remember my mother (;who taught FT and then subbed and started an elementary reading program in the schools) would complain as years past at “ all the foreign/non-Pella names that frequented the class roles abs seating chart… and Pella has a rep for being tough on outsiders! Small town Iowa is small town Iowa… abs as long as there is an escape to larger cities, anything is doable.
 
I suppose this is the reason why I paid $10.99 for Folgers coffee... just 2 weeks ago it was $8.99. Hy-Vee is the only place nearby that sells my dads brand of cigarettes and its more convenient to shop while we are there but this outright jacking up of prices is ridiculous.
No, the price of Folgers coffee increased . Most price changes at retail level are due to increased product cost
 
1 gallon 2% HyVee brand milk $4.99
1 gallon 2% Aldi “Friendly Farm” milk $3.35

That right there is HyVees problem, 50% more for milk?
Hy-Vee has a cheaper brand called "That's Smart" that's closer to the Adli price (Currently $3.65). I'm not sure why they place such a premium on their brand (AE is only 10 cents more), but I'm sure people just buy it out of habit.
 
1 gallon 2% HyVee brand milk $4.99
1 gallon 2% Aldi “Friendly Farm” milk $3.35

That right there is HyVees problem, 50% more for milk?
In HyVee's defense, IF you are willing to make more than one trip to their store in a week, read their ads......you will find SOME very attractive prices on food staples at times and at certain locations. Aldi has an "image problem" similar to HyVee, but at the opposite end of the scale. Neither "image" is that accurate.
 
In HyVee's defense, IF you are willing to make more than one trip to their store in a week, read their ads......you will find SOME very attractive prices on food staples at times and at certain locations. Aldi has an "image problem" similar to HyVee, but at the opposite end of the scale. Neither "image" is that accurate.
ALDIs has done an excellent job of changing their image in the past few years.
 
I suppose this is the reason why I paid $10.99 for Folgers coffee... just 2 weeks ago it was $8.99. Hy-Vee is the only place nearby that sells my dads brand of cigarettes and its more convenient to shop while we are there but this outright jacking up of prices is ridiculous.
And when you bought it fir $10.99 they probably showed it as a price reduction from $11.99!
 
While we are bashing HyVee, I would add that I find it a little strange they moved their Hdqtrs from Chariton to WDSM. They could have stayed in Chariton made a real difference in the community Nd its way of life and saved TONS of money.
I think of my own hometown and think of why it is successful. They have two international manufacturing firms in town, but have resisted the temptation of moving their administrative offices and stated local. These two companies are big dogs in small town Iowa, have made a significant difference on what the town has had to offer and kept it prosperous.".Meanwhile, the two companies, through good times and bad, have prospered, too.
There is nothing wrong with being a big fish in a little pond.
They moved because Ron Pearson, who took over for Dwight Vredenberg, lived in West Des Moines and he wanted the company HQ there.
 
I know a couple of HV people that got cut in this round. They were also cut from corporate jobs a few years back and had to go work in stores again for a while. One of them sold her house and moved to West DM to work at the big new corporate office. They had even recently given her a Tesla to drive and installed a charging station in her house. She thought having the charging station made her safe.

The pandemic was very good for HV the last few years and resulted in some big bonuses. I guess they thought it would continue.

As for the restaurants, the explanation that I heard several years ago was that the younger generations were spending less at the grocery and eating out more. HV planned to capture this market with their upscale in-store restaurants. IMO, it seemed as dumb back then as it does today.

The real problem that I have with HV is their grocery prices. I can buy two loafs of bread at Costco for the price of one at HV.
 
Unless you're buying the advertised items at a HyVee, you'll always pay more. This isn't about the poors not liking HV, it's about HV catering to those that don't like "slumming" it. Many have made the same argument for Target vs Walmart.

The, generally, roaring economy of the last 10-12 years was a tailwind for HV. If inflation continues as a problem for a significant period of time, lots of people currently employed with HV might be a bit worried.
 
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