Decades before comprehensive stores like Walmart, the Peoples Store had become a retailer offering just about anything a typical family needed under one roof, including groceries. Though transparent to the customer, the store was also unique in that various departments were independently operated by different families. The store at Bryant Street and Broadway was at the heart of the downtown urban renewal district and was razed in 1973.
The southern Iowa firm Hy-Vee announced two stores for Council Bluffs in 1977, the first on North 16th Street and a second on Madison Avenue. The company was founded in 1930 and had fifteen stores elsewhere in Iowaat that time.
Harold Cooperman and Richard Juro brought a concept they observed working in other cities to Council Bluffs in 1980. Their No Frills Supermarket offered lower prices through savings garnered by having customers bag their own groceries and skipping the labor intensive task of marking prices on individual containers.
One can't talk grocery stores without a mention of the sticky little coupons housewives of the 50s and 60s couldn't get enough of. Trading stamps were a way to get the silverware, small appliances, jewelry and gadgets housewives wanted but were too practical to buy. It was OK to be a bit extravagant in redeeming the stamps-- those dream items were now theirs for free.
In Council Bluffs the Hinky Dinky stores led the stamp innovation. National chain Kroger’s embarked on a plan to create their own trading stamp rather than have to dilute profits by contracting with a third party like Sperry and Hutchinson, which operated S&H Green Stamps. To help offset the costs of developing such an operation they invited a dozen non-competing regional chains, like Hinky Dinky, to participate in their new Top Value stamps.
Safeway president Lingen Warren resisted the stamps. He was finally ousted as president and the stores began giving Gold Bond stamps. SuperValu foodstores likewise gave Gold Bond stamps.
Neil Shaver was particularly influential in bringing the era of grocery store trading stamps to an end in Council Bluffs and Omaha. Shaver, son of the founder of Shavers Food Stores, was an excellent amateur actor and used his talent to challenge the stamp mentality. Shavers sponsored late night movies on local television, and Neil Shaver developed a following as the personality who introduced the movies. He used the rapport he earned with viewers to explain how much the stamps cost the stores, and how Shavers, by not giving stamps, could undersell the stamp stores on all items, not just a hand full of loss leaders. "It's the tape total that counts” resonated with shoppers, and other stores were able to wean their customers off of the stamps with the promise of overall lower costs. By this time discount stores like Skagway, GEM, and K-Mart had entered the market, making traditional store prices appear high.
Gasoline chains continued to be strong stamp backers, particularly for S&H. This came to an end in May, 1973. An oil embargo made gasoline difficult to obtain. Stations that didn’t have gas couldn’t make sales, stamps or not; the stations that did have gas had customers lined up from blocks. Incentives were no longer needed, and stamps, along with free maps and window washing attendants, largely vanished from the landscape.
