Photo: Tony Webster / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
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Don Lamberti opened the first Casey’s General Store in Boone in 1968, in a converted gas station. The chain is still based in Ankeny and has grown to more than 2,900 stores in 19 states.
Casey’s strategy has always been small towns. It goes where other chains won’t, often to towns with fewer than 5,000 people, and becomes the place to buy gas, coffee, a breakfast pizza and a gallon of milk.
Pizza is a big part of the business. Casey’s is now one of the largest pizza sellers in the country. In 2024 it bought Fikes Wholesale, owner of the CEFCO chain in Texas.
Clarion has its own Casey’s, and on Friday nights in the fall plenty of football families grab a large pizza on the way to the game.
Curt Hanneman writes for Clarion News Online.