ABOVE: HyVee was recently named best grocery store in the country by a USA TODAY poll. Fairmont’s store is located at 907 S. State Street.

FAIRMONT– HyVee has recently been named the best grocery store in America by USA TODAY and Fairmont’s store is celebrating with a customer appreciation event from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 5.

HyVee, which is an employee-owned corporation, was founded 95 years ago. Locally, it’s had a presence in Fairmont since 1981. HyVee has 304 stores spread across eight states with 41 stores in Minnesota.

District Director, Aaron Speltz, oversees the Fairmont, Windom and Worthington stores. He began working at Hy-Vee in Rochester as a high schooler and after spending a few years away, he started up again in 2008 and has been with the company ever since.

He explained that USA TODAY put out a national poll where people could vote in a number of categories, including for their favorite grocery store.

“There were a lot of bigger players out there like HEB, Kroger, Albertsons. Those have thousands of retailers,” Speltz said.

Yet HyVee was ranked as number one. In prior years HyVee had ranked in the top three spots.

Speltz believes what sets HyVee apart from other grocery stores is its customer service.

“I think people know and trust us and they know if we ever make a mistake we’re going to make it right. They don’t need to walk more than 10 feet to find an employee who’s going to be helpful with finding a product,” Speltz said.

Not only do customers recognize the good qualities of HyVee, but the employees do too and that’s apparent in the number who have stayed with the company for so long.

Speltz said in October the Fairmont store will do its annual service awards. This year they have an employee celebrating 35 years and in the last few years they recognized one for their 50th year with Hy-Vee.

The Fairmont store has about 200 employees in total including part-time and full-time. Those 200 are spread across the various departments including bakery, meat, dairy, produce and pharmacy, to name a few.

In HyVee’s most recent expansion, the health market, Caribou Coffee and the C store and gas station were added, which was an exciting addition for not just the store and its employees, but the community.

Speltz said that at the customer appreciation event, which was impromptu upon learning of the recognition, people will have a choice of hamburger or hotdog, chips and water.

“We want to thank our customers and any employees who may have voted for us. It really proves that what we’re doing is good and we always try to provide the best service to our customers and take care of employees and I hope this award proves that we do,” Speltz said.