Here is a comparison that explains everything Hy-Vee has done for the last six years.
In the first eight months of 2026, American grocery store sales grew 0.9 percent.
Over the same eight months, gasoline station sales grew 15.7 percent.
Those are both Census Bureau figures from the same monthly report. One number is the business Hy-Vee has been in since 1930. The other is a business it started buying convenience stores to get into.
And the grocery number is the good version of the story, because it is nominal. Strip out inflation and grocery volume is roughly flat.
So the company went looking elsewhere. It now owns a pharmacy benefit manager, a bank, a telehealth prescriber, infusion clinics and a primary care practice.