April 16, 2024

45 years in business

Casey’s General Store on Elm Street in Creston will celebrate its 45th anniversary Oct. 1.

By BAILEY POOLMAN

Before it became Casey's General Store, this was the small service station on South Elm Street. In 1969, the building was was transformed into the second Casey's in Iowa and the United States.

A celebration is on the horizon at Casey’s General Store, 200 S. Elm St., where the business will hold its 45th anniversary Oct. 1.

The celebration will include several different specials, such as prizes and a raffle.

“We’re planning on having specials on our fountain pop,” Casey’s Manager Linda Cochran said. “There will be free coffee on that day, also.”

There will be a chamber coffee from 10 to 11 a.m. Oct 1. At 11, there will be a chance to spin a wheel for prizes. The spins end at 1 p.m. Hot dogs will be available at noon. Prizes include a portable gas grill, wheeled cooler and Iowa college mugs.

A raffle drawing will be held at 1 p.m., and prizes include portable gas grill and $10 gift card. All proceeds will be donated to St. Jude Children’s Hospital. Tickets are $1 for one ticket, $5 for six tickets or $10 for 13 tickets.

Expansion

“This Casey’s here was opened Oct. 1, 1969,” Cochran said. “It was the second store that Casey’s Company opened.”

Don Lamberti, the founder of Casey’s General Store, was formerly of the Mount Ayr area, Cochran said, and his wife was formerly of the Orient area.

“Creston would have been a happy medium,” Cochran said.

Casey’s in Creston was formerly a service station with fuel for vehicles. Lamberti added the convenience store aspect to the place and it became a general store.

In 45 years, the chain exploded. There are more than 1,800 stores in existence. Iowa has the most stores at 477.

Changes

The first manager was Vance Monday, and his wife also worked at the store. They employed Cleo Kuhns, who was in high school at the time, who eventually worked his way up to vice president of store operations at Casey’s. Kuhns is no longer with Casey’s.

In 45 years, Cochran said nearly everything has changed within the store, including an expansion onto the south side of the building.

“The technology, the cash registers, the pumps are different,” Cochran said. “They’ve added this extension here when they added pizza here. They added this on so they had a place to do pizzas and doughnuts.”

When the store first opened, there was one cooler with four doors and no freezer. Since then, they’ve added on. There is now a freezer with three doors, and a cooler with seven doors to hold things such as pop, water, beer and other cold items.

There are also eight employees at that particular Casey’s, increased from three in 1969.

Quality

However, Cochran said there are several things that haven’t changed.

“The quality of the service, and the products we sell has not changed,” Cochran said. “We provide clean stores with quality products, fair prices and exceptional customer service.”

Cochran is in her 20th year at Casey’s.

“I’ve gone through a lot of changes, from doing everything manually with paperwork and knowing the prices in your head to doing everything on a computer and scanning everything on there and not having to know everything,” Cochran said.

Cochran also said she has appreciated working at Casey’s those 20 years.

“I don’t think that I would ever want to work for any other company,” Cochran said, “because they take care of their employees. Casey’s is one of the best companies that I have ever seen.”

History

Casey’s General Store was started in Boone, after Lamberti was successful owning a convenience store in Des Moines. He purchased a service center in Boone and after its success, purchased a service center in Creston.

The Creston store succeeded, and Lamberti continued to expand. In 1982, the distribution center opened in Urbandale. By that time, there were approximately 120 stores in the chain. In the 1990s, the distribution center moved to Ankeny, and in 1996, Altoona became home to the 1,000th Casey’s store.

As of June 30, the chain owns and operates 1,835 stores spanning 14 states in the Midwest and plains areas.

Future plans include expanding the company by building a second distribution center in Indiana. Currently, the only one is located in Ankeny, but by building a second one, the company can expand into the southern and eastern parts of the country.