Scott Johnson is settling in after his first week as director of the Perry Hy-Vee store.
In December Johnson will celebrate his 40th anniversary with the company where he began as a part-timer in 1979. Perry makes the 10th store he has worked in and his fourth as store manager.
His most recent post was in Kirksville, Mo., since 2015. Prior to the Missouri store, Johnson ran the Hy-Vee in Pella, Iowa, for seven years.
Innovation is constant in the grocery business, Johnson said, and new methods are here or soon will come to Perry, such as automated self-checking and centralized production facilities. The days of every Hy-Vee selling its own unique variety of potato salad, for instance, are passing, he said.
Johnson said he brings high energy and a booster spirit to Perry, and he is eager to contribute to the community’s commercial success on the Perry Chamber of Commerce, the Booster Club and other civic groups.
“At this point, I’m just meeting people and figuring out where I can best fit in,” he said.
Johnson has a son attending Missouri University of Science and Technology and a daughter finishing her senior year of high school in Kirksville before she and her mother move to Perry.