Charles Hyde and David Vredenburg spent their early life in Harrison Country before opening the store. They both were the RLDS (Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) family members until their deaths.
David Vredenburg owned his first store at the age of 17 in Orson, Iowa before moving to Lamoni. In 1926, Vredenburg started a new store in Garden Grove which was called Vredenburg & Carr.
By 1927, the Hyde bought half- of the interest in a store in Kellerton, Iowa, with the General Supply Company, whose president was David Vredenburg. Vredenburg owned the other half. This marked the first relationship between Hyde and Vredenburg.
The store (Hyde & Vredenburg, Inc) was incorporated in 1938 and adopted the Hy-Vee name in 1952. Hy-Vee is combination of their last name. The first Hy-Vee building is now the Beaconsfield Community Center and is the only business building left in town.
They entered the Kansas City market in 1988 and in 1997, purchased former Schnucks Markets to convert to Hy-Vees.
Hy-Vee slowly grew from its founding in 1930 to a $3 billion company in 1998 and then spurted to more than $6 billion by 2009.
Charles Hyde and David Vredenburg of Hy-Vee
