Dahl's Foods was a

grocery store A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, a ...

chain headquartered in

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

that had multiple locations in central Iowa between its founding in 1931 and its demise in 2015.

History

Dahl's Foods was founded by Wolverine Thilbert ("W.T.") Dahl in 1931. The first store was a facility located on Des Moines' east side. The first Dahl's supermarket opened in Des Moines' Beaverdale neighborhood in 1948 and was the first supermarket bakery between the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

and the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...

. Another store opened in 1952 featuring a scratch bakery, pharmacy, and a lunch counter, uncommon for a grocery store at that time. At the same store, until 1963, customers could drive to the corner of the parking lot to a small brick building known as the "Dahl House" where their groceries, already transported underground, would be available for pick up. In 1981, the Dahl's store on Ingersoll Avenue was the site of the world's first grocery purchase using a debit card. Proving successful, all stores were equipped with ATM POS terminals by 1983. Dahl's expanded into

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

in 1979, operating two stores in the Kansas City metropolitan area until leaving that market in 1997. Founder W.T. Dahl stated in an interview with ''

The Des Moines Register ''The Des Moines Register'' is the daily morning newspaper of Des Moines, Iowa. History Early period The first newspaper in Des Moines was the ''Iowa Star''. In July 1849, Barlow Granger began the paper in an abandoned log cabin by the junction ...

'' that the expansion into Kansas allowed rival

Hy-Vee Hy-Vee, Inc. () is an employee-owned chain of supermarkets in the Midwestern and Southern United States, with more than 280 locations in Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and soon Indiana, Kentucky, ...

to pick better locations in Dahl's home market of Des Moines. In 2005, Dahl's stores became ticket outlets for events at the

Iowa Events Center The Iowa Events Center is a public events complex located in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, United States. History The Iowa Events Center consists of the existing Community Choice Credit Union Convention Center, the existing Polk County Convention ...

Store closings

Amid increased competition from regional chains Hy-Vee and Fareway and national chains

Target Target may refer to: Physical items * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artillery, f ...

and

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

, Dahl's began closing stores in 2014. On May 9, 2014, Dahl's announced that it would close stores in

Ames Ames may refer to: Places United States * Ames, Arkansas, a place in Arkansas * Ames, Colorado * Ames, Illinois * Ames, Indiana * Ames, Iowa, the most populous city bearing this name * Ames, Kansas * Ames, Nebraska * Ames, New York * Ames, Ok ...

and Ankeny, leaving the chain with 11 stores. On August 31, 2014, Dahl's announced that it will close another store in

West Des Moines West Des Moines is a city in Polk, Dallas, Warren, and Madison counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. A majority of the city is located in Polk County, a minority of the city is located in Dallas County, and small portions extend into Warren and Ma ...

Bankruptcy

On November 10, 2014, Dahl's announced that it had filed for

Chapter 11 Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, wheth ...

bankruptcy. Its food supplier, Kansas City-based

Associated Wholesale Grocers Associated Wholesale Grocers, Inc. (AWG) is the United States's largest cooperative food wholesaler to independently owned supermarkets and grocery stores. It serves more than 4,000 locations in 36 states and from 8 full-line wholesale divisions ...

, had agreed to buy the company's operating assets. AWG acquired seven of the ten remaining Dahl's stores in a bankruptcy auction on January 30, 2015, for $2.45 million. The acquired locations continued to operate as grocery stores but under a different name. The three locations that AWG did not acquire were sold to different buyers or closed altogether.

Final store closings

The Dahl's brand disappeared in March 2015 as five of the seven Dahl's stores that AWG acquired were converted to the

Price Chopper Price Chopper may refer to: United States * Price Chopper (Northeastern United States), a supermarket chain based in Schenectady, New York, with stores in eastern United States ** Price Chopper Tour Championship, a golf tournament in the Albany, ...

brand by the end of the month. The remaining two, both in the city of Des Moines, were converted to the Cash Saver brand at the same time.

Advertising

For many years, Dahl's chose not to run weekly

advertisements Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

. They opted to use the money that its competitors would spend on advertising toward improving store operations and cutting prices. However, after a new store opened in Clive in May 2003, they began running regular advertisements in newspaper, radio, and television. Advertising from January 2013 until the company's demise featured an

owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...

named "Chadwick" as its

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...

References

{{Supermarkets of the United States Defunct supermarkets of the United States Defunct companies based in Iowa American companies established in 1931 Retail companies established in 1931 Retail companies disestablished in 2015 1931 establishments in Iowa 2015 disestablishments in Iowa