Congratulations to Jay Wilson!

Our staff here at the Yankton Hy-Vee would like to congratulate Jay Wilson, assistant vice president of wine and spirits at Hy-Vee corporate, for being selected one of six Market Watch Leaders of 2009 by Market Watch magazine.

The magazine article talks about Hy-Vee's formula for success. Highlights of the article include Hy-Vee's hands-off approach to managing. Hy-Vee was founded in 1930 and is one of the nation's fastest growing grocers with 225 grocery stores in Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and Minnesota. Hy-Vee doesn't do any centralized buying, so that managers can mold their stores to their neighborhoods needs. Since there is no set corporate program Jay acts like an advisor to each store manager, by e-mailing new ideas and wine product information. His light authoriative touch has kept managers highly motivated and ensures that individual stores are merchandised to meet their specific customer needs.  In 2006, Jay started an exciting and innovative online wine study program that is the result of a ground breaking educational collaboration between Hy-Vee, the Society of Wine Educators, and the E&J Gallo Winery. The program is intended to allow employees to increase their core wine knowledge and enhance job performance. After completing the online program (which is about 100 hours of study), employees become a Hy-Vee Certified Wine Specialist. The program also helps to prepare them to successfully pass the SWE's Certified Specialist of Wine (CSW) exam. Jay also started a program 10 years ago to help Hy-Vee build an array of wine and beer clubs.  Today, some stores have 300 members or more. Our Yankton store has about 200 members, which receive a 15% discount on a case of wine and 10% off of the wine of the month. Members also receive discounts on wine tasting sponsored by the store and Wine Spectator magazine.