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HARTINGTON — As a kid in grade school, Burnell Herbolsheimer would go into the local grocery store in Pierce where his dad worked as the meat cutter, to bug the owner Ed German, “What can I do?”
Mr. German paid Burnell a penny a pound to sack 10 pounds of potatoes from 100 pound bags. He had the unforgettable experience of reaching into a gunny sack to grab a rotten potato many times.
Burnell worked odd jobs around the store until he turned 16 when he was finally old enough to begin helping his dad in the meat department.
By that time, Burnell’s uncle, Donrel Herbolsheimer, had taken ownership of the Pierce store. One Friday on a day off work in 1979, Burnell received a phone call from his uncle Donrel asking him to drive over to Hartington to look at a store and consider whether he would like to manage it for Donrel who was in the process of buying it.
Three days later on July 31, 1979, Burnell had moved to Hartington to manage the newly acquired Hartington Foodtown.
The aisles in the store were diagonal at the time of the purchase in 1979. Within a year a remodel took place to change the direction of the aisles and install updated coolers. Trucks were unloaded by hand with a rolling track system. The original building was brick with large glass windows on the south side and a grassy area on the south side.
Then in 1994, a second remodel was done to increase the size of the building and the brick was covered with steel siding and the front end was extended to the sidewalk on the south side. A lift was installed to unload pallets off the warehouse trucks and departments were expanded inside the store with updated coolers and freezers.
In 2006, Burnell and his wife Aleacia decided to buy the store from Donrel which took place on Jan. 7, 2007.
Burnell has poured himself into his grocery store from the moment he moved to Hartington in 1979.
His customers have always come first. He has been known to take special care of his delivery customers for whom he has shoveled sidewalks, filled water softeners, changed light bulbs, and every other manner of assistance.
He has frequently supplied taxi service to employees and customers alike during snowstorms or other circumstances. He has been on call 24/7/365 for events in need of last minute groceries. He has been a staunch supporter of the community of Hartington for all of his adult life.
In 2017, it was discovered Burnell had a benign tumor in his brain. He underwent surgery to have that removed. During his recovery Burnell’s son Steven moved home for a year to help at the store. Steve initiated and helped bring to fruition the third remodel/facelift of the store in 2018.
Most recently, Burnell’s son Franklin has moved back to Hartington to run the store.
Burnell has been managing/ owning the store in Hartington for 46 years and this has given him a reason to celebrate the dedication of all his current and former employees as well as the loyalty of his local customers.
