6 Fareway Habits That Leave Hy-Vee Shoppers Scratching Their Heads
Are you used to loading your own trunk after a Hy-Vee run?
If you’re at a Fareway in Iowa and beyond, someone will probably beat you to it.
These are the Fareway habits that leave many Hy-Vee shoppers scratching their heads.
1. Closed Sundays
Fareway stores stay closed on Sundays, and the chain says they always have.
Hy-Vee’s store on North Ankeny Boulevard in Ankeny, by contrast, is open Monday through Sunday.
If you usually pick up forgotten items on a Sunday, that run has to happen by Saturday night, since Fareway’s store listings show Saturday as the last open day.
Fareway says the reason is that everyone deserves a day to rest and spend time with loved ones, and its careers page advertises Sundays off.
2. Shorter Hours
Many Fareway stores around Des Moines post Monday through Saturday hours that close at 8 or 9 p.m.
Hy-Vee’s North Ankeny Boulevard store is open 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., so those Fareway stores close two to three hours earlier.
Many of them also open at 8 a.m., two hours after that Hy-Vee.
The Euclid Avenue store in Des Moines posts the same 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. hours today that a 2017 Produce Business profile listed for it.
If your grocery runs usually happen late in the evening, you’ll need to move them earlier in the day to fit Fareway’s schedule.
3. Carry-Out to Your Car
Fareway says its staff walk you out to your car and make sure your groceries are loaded safely, always without tipping.
The same page lists greeting you at the door among its everyday courtesies.
A 2006 Supermarket News profile described the same service, with staff carrying groceries to customers’ cars.
A Hy-Vee regular who is used to loading the trunk alone may be surprised when a Fareway employee reaches for your bags.
4. Meat Counter Service
Fareway’s meat department is a full-service counter, and the chain says its meat experts are available for any request or order you bring.
A Progressive Grocer report on a store in LeClaire, Iowa, called its full-service meat counter a signature Fareway feature.
Fareway’s release for its Basehor, Kansas store bills it as Fareway Meat & Grocery, so meat is in the name.
A counter alone isn’t what sets Fareway apart, since Hy-Vee’s North Ankeny Boulevard store has a meat market too.
5. Daily Cuts, No Preservatives
Fareway says its butchers cut all the meat daily, with U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Choice beef and all-natural pork and chicken filling the meat case.
It also says it never adds preservatives to its meat and doesn’t inject water solutions into cuts, which it says some stores do to add weight and plumpness.
If you usually buy your meat at Hy-Vee, those are the points Fareway puts forward when it pitches its counter to you.
6. Free Dietitian Services
Fareway says its Registered Dietitians offer free services for families, students, athletes and workplaces.
The page lists live virtual cooking classes on Zoom, a quarterly Kitchen magazine and community presentations, including workplace Lunch and Learn events.
It also invites questions about products, special diets, allergies and meal plans by email.
If you plan the week’s meals before a store trip, you can send those questions to a Fareway dietitian first, since the page calls the services free.
Self-Checkout at Some Stores
N’West Iowa news reports from around 2021 and 2022 described Fareway stores adding self-checkout.
A Sioux Center store added four machines, which it calls fast lanes, with an attendant to help shoppers use them.
As of that reporting, Sheldon’s Fareway joined about 65 other locations with self-checkout lanes, and a few staffed lanes stayed open there too.
An undated Fareway news release for a new Basehor, Kansas, store lists FastLanes alongside a full-service butcher counter and to-your-car carryout.
Not every store had self-checkout then, so the checkout a Hy-Vee shopper meets at one Fareway may differ from the next.
Size and Rank
Fareway says it is a family-owned business and a top 10 employer in Iowa, with over 12,000 employees.
Its about page also says it operates more than 143 grocery stores in Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska and South Dakota.
Chain Store Guide’s 2020 sales data, reported by Axios, put Fareway just ahead of Target and behind Hy-Vee among central Iowa grocers.
A 2017 Produce Business profile said Fareway had 17 stores in the greater Des Moines area, second only to Hy-Vee in number of units.
Both rankings put Hy-Vee first, so if you shop in central Iowa, the chain you already know is the yardstick for every Fareway habit.
Psst! How much do you know about Iowa grocery history? Take our quiz and see if you can ace it.
Quiz
Iowa Grocery IQ
Answer these questions on Iowa grocery history and shopping firsts. We bet you can’t get them all right. Prove us wrong?
Fareway’s history page says its first ad offered USDA Choice sirloin and T-bone steaks at about how much a pound?
Fareway Services
Fareway's website lists a bakery, party trays, catering and concessions.
Hy-Vee's North Ankeny Boulevard store lists a pharmacy, a bank, a Starbucks and a wine and spirits department.
Hy-Vee's Prairie Trail store in Ankeny adds Chinese, Italian and sushi counters.
Pharmacy, bank and coffee stops that fit into one Hy-Vee trip don't appear on that Fareway list, so those errands may need a second stop.
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