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The story
Founded in 1939 in Thief River Falls, Minnesota by Bob Kiesau and his wife, Jean, Home of Economy was originally an auto parts wholesale business. In February 1940, Bob started a store in Grand Forks, North Dakota, recapping used tires at night and selling them during the day. In the years since, Home of Economy has grown to include stores in other North Dakota cities, including Grafton, Devils Lake, Minot, Williston, Watford City, Jamestown and Rugby.
Home of Economy is considered by many to be the first discount store. Prior to Home of Economy's discount program, free-trade laws required retailers to sell at high, fixed prices, and only fleet operators with five or more machines could receive discounts. In 1950, Bob Kiesau sent his employees to every county seat in the trade area to copy names and addresses of each taxpayer who had listed three or more tractors or combines. He assumed each farmer would have at least one car and one truck that would not be listed on the tax report. From this list, a fleet identification card was mailed to every farmer, enabling them to buy at fleet discounts.
On December 3, 1987, fire destroyed the store in Grand Forks. The store was back in operation in three separate temporary locations less than a week after the fire began.
Their company's motto is (variously):
"Be wise, Economize"
"The friendly store where your dollar buys more."
On May 30, 2024, it was announced that Home of Economy (a Midstates Distributing Cooperative founder) had been sold to another member (Runnings) of Midstates and that Runnings would expand to 90 stores through its acquisition of Home of Economy
From Wikipedia’s article on Home of Economy, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4