Dillon's
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| Grocery | |
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | Hutchinson, Kansas |
| Headquarters | Hutchinson, Kansas |
| Products | Bakery, dairy, deli, frozen foods, general grocery, meat, pharmacy, produce, salad bar, seafood, snacks, liquor |
| Parent | Kroger (1983–present) |
| Divisions | Gerbes |
| Website | Dillons.com |
Dillons is a grocery supermarket chain based in Hutchinson, Kansas, and is a division of The Kroger Company. Other banners under Dillon Stores Division include Gerbes in Missouri, Baker's in Omaha, Nebraska, and a Food 4 Less store in Fremont, Nebraska. Dillons operates grocery stores throughout Kansas with major influences in the Wichita metropolitan area, Topeka, Kansas metropolitan area, and the Lawrence, Kansas area.
Dillons operates a dry grocery warehouse in Goddard, Kansas, in addition to frozen foods and perishable warehouses in Hutchinson. A bakery manufacturing plant and dairy are also in Hutchinson. The dairy produces cultured dairy products and private-label milk for all Dillons stores. Dillons previously operated (until the late 1990s) dry grocery warehouses in Hutchinson and Lenexa, Kansas.
In 1890s, John S. Dillon open a general store in Sterling, Kansas, and learned that allowing customer to charge then pay later and delivering groceries to customer's home was a financial and manpower strain on his business. In 1913, he opened his "J.S. Dillon Cash Store" in Hutchinson, Kansas employed a new marketing concept called cash and carry, where the store would not offer credit or delivery services. Dillon opened a second store in 1915 that he managed then placed his son, Ray E. Dillon, in charge of the original store. In 1917, the company was incorporated under the name "Dillon Mercantile Company, Inc". Due to his sons John and Ray both being overseas in France during World War I, Dillon sold his company to his investment partners, but soon afterward both sons returned. They opened a new store called "J.S. Dillon and Sons Store" in 1919 and incorporated in 1921.
After several decades of steadily building the chain, a burst of growth began in 1957, when John's son, Raymond, expanded with additional stores in the Wichita market when, in September 1957, Kroger sold off its Wichita, Kansas, store division, then consisting of 16 stores. By 1968, J.S. Dillon and Sons had grown into Dillon Companies, Inc., and began acquiring regional banners, such as City Market, Fry's, Gerbes, and King Soopers, over 300 convenience stores in five states, and Jackson's Ice Cream dairy. Dillon Companies, Inc., joined the Kroger company in 1983 and brought with it two future CEOs: Joe Pichler, who served as CEO of Kroger from 1990 to 2003, and Kroger's former CEO, Dave Dillon. Dave is the great grandson of J. S. Dillon.
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Wikipedia