Hy-Vee

About this location

A few stories people tell about this place

1. It was an unseasonably warm autumn morning when Hy-Vee’s delivery driver noticed something odd in the loading bay. Stacked boxes seemed to move ever so slightly as he approached them. Curious, he peered inside one box and found nothing but a few cans of beans shifting gently in the breeze. Turns out, it was just a trick of the light and a bit of rustling paper. A regular old ghost story for a quiet neighborhood supermarket.

2. It was a quiet Sunday afternoon when a strange announcement came over Hy-Vee’s intercom: ‘Attention shoppers, please be advised that our self-checkout aisle now accepts groceries as payment.’ A regular customer, Mr. Jenkins, decided to test it out and placed his cart full of groceries on the scanner. To everyone's surprise, the machine accepted them without complaint! Word spread quickly through town, and soon people were lining up just to pay for their purchases with food. Even the delivery drivers joined in—they’d bring boxes of groceries directly to the store entrance and walk away smiling. It became such a popular gimmick that eventually Hy-Vee had to install a separate checkout lane dedicated solely to paying with produce.

3. It was a slow Tuesday night when a groggy cashier asked an elderly customer, ‘Did you forget your own shopping list today?’ The old man smiled and replied, 'No, sonny, I just like to see how many items they can fit in one bag!' The cashier laughed, shaking his head, as he scanned another banana into the overflowing pile.

4. It was a chilly winter morning when a Hy-Vee employee heard a peculiar humming sound coming from one of the refrigerated aisles. Curious, the worker followed the noise and discovered a frozen banana dancing in the display case, its wrapper caught on a wire. The entire store erupted in laughter as customers snapped photos and shared them online. That day, Hy-Vee became famous for its talking bananas—and everyone agreed it was worth waiting in line just to see one.