With the company since age 17

**Bob Townsend and his wife, Roxanne, during the open house event for the Christmas festivities, which took place on October 26 at The Stables at Copper Ridge in Denison.** Photo by Lorena López Altamirano

Bob Townsend has worked at Hy-Vee since he was 17 years old.

In October, he celebrated 39 years working for the company in stores around Iowa and outside the state.

Bob, 56, is originally from Storm Lake.

"I still remember that I was in my last year of high school when I applied at the Hy Vee store in Storm Lake; back then, it never crossed my mind that I was applying to build the career of a lifetime," he said. "That's where I started and worked for several years pushing shopping carts, offering customer service, and other occupations."

Bob said that around 1990, he requested a transfer to the Hy-Vee store in Cherokee and moved there to take the job of assistant manager.

Since then, he has worked in different stores and positions for the company.

"In 2012, I was transferred to Denison, where I served as operations manager,” he said.

It was then that Bob started the multicultural aisle with food originating from different Latin American countries.

"I realized the growth in the diversity of people from different Latin American countries that were coming to Denison and the responsibility that I had to meet their demands on products from their countries,” he said. “It was then that I began to learn about the different cultures and their needs for products."

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Bob said he has never stopped doing research to help meet the needs of his clients.

"Our goal as a store is not only to satisfy the consumption needs of our population, but it is also essential to save money in the pockets of our clientele, which is why in our store we offer savings programs such as Perks, which offers not only savings in the products but also the fuel of our customers' cars,” he said.

Since 2019, Bob has served as manager of the Hy-Vee store in Denison.

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