Mark Harvieux clocked out of work at the Cub Foods in Cottage Grove for the last time at noon on Thursday.
Harvieux, 60, of Oak Park Heights, spent his career at Cub Foods, starting at the age of 16 as a bagger at Hooley’s Grocery Store — the precursor to Cub — in downtown Stillwater.
He is one of four brothers who spent most of their careers — almost 150 years in all — working for the grocery-store chain, the dominant food retailer in the Twin Cities market.
The eldest, Dave Harvieux, 70, of Stillwater, retired in 1989 as the senior director of Cub Foods’ franchise division before leaving to pursue other opportunities in real estate. Brian Harvieux, 62, of Lake Elmo, retired in February 2021 as the general merchandise manager at the Cub Foods store in Arden Hills. The lone brother still working, Ed Harvieux, 57, of West Lakeland Township, is in charge of receiving at the Cub Foods in Burnsville.
“It’s surreal,” said Mark Harvieux, who worked from 4 a.m. to noon each day. “It still feels like I’m going to have to get up and go to work tomorrow.”
Mark Harvieux was part of the early-morning stock crew at the grocery store at 8690 East Point Douglas Road, helping get the store, which is open 24 hours a day, ready for the day’s sales.
“I liked it,” he said. “You could get in and get your stuff done before it got too busy. It was just more productive.”
Mark Harvieux said he won’t miss his 2:30 a.m. alarm or 7 p.m. bedtime, but he will miss the people.
“It was a fun business to be in,” he said. “I liked the people I worked with, and you get to know certain customers. … I’ve only ever worked for Cub. For the most part, it was a great company to work for.”
The Harvieux family history with Cub Foods started in 1969 when Dave Harvieux went to work as a bagger at Hooley’s Grocery Store in downtown Stillwater. Dave Harvieux, a senior at Stillwater High School, started out “bagging groceries, stocking shelves and mopping floors,” he said.
The family lived in Stillwater’s South Hill neighborhood, and parents Bernie and Eileen Harvieux had a rule that “if you wanted something, you had to earn enough to pay for it,” Dave Harvieux said.
“In the late ‘60s and early 70s, the jobs at Hooley’s were the best-paying jobs in town,” he said. “You worked for it, but they were the best-paying jobs for part time.”
Dave Harvieux worked his way up to assistant manager and continued working while taking classes at the University of Minnesota, he said. The beginning of his sophomore year of college, Jack Hooley, the owner, offered him a chance to be manager of the Food Bonanza in Brooklyn Park.
“It was an opportunity that people would dream about getting after they got their degree,” he said. “I was offered the job when I was 19. I started when I was 20.”
Food Bonanza became Cub Foods in 1973. Dave Harvieux later worked at the Cub Foods in Fridley and then opened the store in Burnsville before being promoted to regional supervisor in 1975. In 1981, he became senior director of the company’s franchise division. The Stillwater-based company is now owned by United Natural Foods Inc., a Rhode Island wholesale grocer that bought Cub’s Minnesota parent, Supervalu, in 2018.
“I’m fortunate for the kinds of opportunities that Jack Hooley provided me at a very young age,” Dave Harvieux said. “To have that kind of trust and to give that kind of responsibility to somebody who was 20 years old is pretty incredible. The company has changed, but the opportunities to get started and have a good job and good pay and benefits were remarkable.”
Brian Harvieux retired from Cub Foods in February 2021 after a 44-year career, “three months shy of 45 years,” he said. His last posting was as general merchandise manager at the Arden Hills store.
Like his brothers, he started working as a bagger at the downtown Hooley’s store. He was 16.
“Mom was bugging me to get a job, so I got a job,” he said. “She said, ‘They need carry-outs at Hooley’s.’ I played sports and cut grass. I thought I had enough money. I guess not.”
Brian Harvieux said he has worked at “11 or 12 different (Cub Foods) stores” in the metro area.
“I went to the University of Minnesota for a couple of quarters, and then they offered me full time and I went full time,” he said. At the age of 21, he was offered the job of assistant manager at the Cub Foods in Little Canada, he said.
What did he like best about working at Cub? “Working with customers,” he said. “The day-to-day contact with customers.”
Ed Harvieux, the youngest of the brothers, could not be reached for comment.
The brothers had one sister, Joan Harvieux Zevenbergen, who worked as a beautician, Dave Harvieux said. She died in 2002 at the age of 47.
Dave Harvieux said he learned many invaluable lessons from Jack Hooley, who was known for his “high ethical standards.”
“He taught me to create win-win relationships in business and in family,” he said. “We work for win-win relationships, not win-lose or who can get more or what. Instead, it’s let’s see if we can both get what we want.”
“And no Monday-morning quarterbacking,” he said. “If you disagree, you say something upfront,” he said. “If you say something after it falls apart, you might as well kiss your butt goodbye going out the door because that doesn’t do any good.”