Yukon’s Jude Roberson celebrated his first birthday this week. Happy Birthday Jude.
Jude is the son of Yukon Media Specialist Jenna Roberson who assists Jim Crosby and Tammy Kretchmar with promoting the many activities and events within our community. I told Jenna she could name her next son Jody and that way Yukon would be home of Jude and Jody…..for those of you who remember the longtime furniture store in OKC and their crazy marketing tactics and television commercials!
Please call Jenna at City Hall and encourage her to make Jude and Jody a reality!
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I attended high school with Les, John and Curtis Hibdon. You might not personally know these guys but I am sure you have heard and probably been to one of their tire stores named after them. I can remember when John and Curtis’ mom and dad Neal and Sally Hibdon would come to the grocery store each week. They would leave that place with a couple of us sackers pushing 7 or 8 baskets of groceries out to their car.
Neal would always hand me a wad of cash out of his pocket for a tip. I remember how much that extra eight or nine dollars would mean to me and I always try to do the same thing when one of our high school kids carries or wheels my groceries out to my car.
Hibdon’s is now part of a large chain and we are fortunate to have one here in Yukon. A lot of people have made a nice living working at Hibdon’s.
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I guess I am going to have to call my old friend Bruce Harroz at Crest Foods and make him understand that if he is going to build a store out this way (inside Yukon) that we will work with him and give him the exact deal he wants so he won’t build it inside OKC city limits.
If Crest Foods wants Yukon shoppers then the Crest Foods grocery store needs to be built in Yukon so we can get the sales tax. A giant Crest Foods store will pull customers into our community from El Reno to Elk City and we can’t afford to risk losing this economic shot in the arm that will last forever.
Back in 1984, I worked for L.D. Jones Food Company and called on the original Crest location at 7212 East Reno in Midwest City. I became friends with Bruce and his father Nick. They told me 30 years ago about their plans for a grocery store chain. I sold them all their Pepperidge Farm stuffing and Holland House drink mixes.
It was unreal how much that one store sold. I guess we will have to give them the land to build their store, buy the cash registers for all 30 of their lanes and give them their first year of advertising for free. Bruce will probably hit me up to get Garth Brooks to perform a free concert in the parking lot for the grand opening! Stay tuned.
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Walgreen’s announced last week that it will be closing many underperforming stores across the country. I sure hope they don’t close the one here in Yukon. This Walgreen’s store is proud to be the only Walgreens store in the United States located on Garth Brooks Boulevard…that’s a pretty good location if you ask me!
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Back in 1991, I ran the obituary of Joe Albertson. The obituary contained all of Joe’s information about his life, all of his accomplishments, all of his activities and the thing that stood out the most….the fact that he was founder and president of Albertson’s grocery store chain and he was from right here in Yukon, Oklahoma.
When the site location team chose to build a store in his honor at 10th and Cornwell they affectionately named it Founder’s Square. I think Joe would have been proud. Who wouldn’t be proud of a $10 million investment named for you? Homeland now occupies that space.
Albertson’s left the state of Oklahoma more than 20 years ago. I am gathering information from the Oklahoma Department of Transportation about how many cars drive past that store each day. Stay tuned. I’ll bet it is 20,000.
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Dairy Queen is celebrating its 100th birthday this year. I just wish they were located on the north side of 10th street so Yukon could get the sales tax. The original Yukon Dairy Queen was located in the same building that City Bites currently occupies. They still have Oreo blasts and Peanut Buster Parfaits as well as some of the best ice cream cakes in the business.
I’m glad Warren Buffett bought them in 1997 for a mere $585 million in cash and stock. Don’t be surprised if we see Warren working a shift at the Yukon Dairy Queen the next time he comes to Oklahoma to check on his Tulsa World newspaper!
Thanks so much for reading. I will see you next Saturday. Would you like a Progress?
