When Dave and Emmy Steffen opened their grocery store in Fairbury in 1950, they were entering a crowded market. There were 11 grocery stores in town. Today, 76 years later, Dave’s Supermarket is the last traditional grocery store remaining in this Livingston County community of 3,500 people.
Much has changed in Fairbury since Dave’s opened in a small space that was once the town’s post office. The store has grown, the competition has changed, and the grocery business has evolved. All that said, the foundational principles for this beloved brick-and-mortar have remained remarkably consistent.
Faith.
Family.
And a simple philosophy that has been at the center of the business for generations: to WOW the customer!
“Grocery shopping, for many is a chore. And so, our job is to try to make it an experience. Why do customers want to shop with us,” says Justin Steffen, a grandson of Dave who notes that the store offers complimentary coffee, 50-cent ice cream cones at the deli, as well as free bananas in the produce department.
“What can we offer that other retailers can’t is our team, a team of 110 employees who get the vision and enjoy what they do.”
Growing up in the grocery business
One of Dave’s sons, Brian Steffen, says his education in retail started long before he ever considered it a career.
He recalls walking from kindergarten to the store, where someone in the back room would load a 100-pound bag of potatoes into a large bin. Brian says he would weigh the potatoes into 10-pound bags and tie them up. He was paid two cents a bag.
“As I got into first, second, third grade, I sorted pop bottles in the alley and fought a lot of bumblebees and hot weather out there,” Brian remembers.
By the early 1970s, he was punching a time clock. But his father had a different philosophy about the clock.
“Dad always said, forget about that time clock. You don’t leave till the work is done,” Brian says. “Don’t be looking at the clock, you know, worrying about when you’re going to get out of here and head to the swimming pool.”
There was always something to do.
“There’s never a dull moment in the grocery business for sure,” Brian says. “It’s always something to do. And you’re interacting with people constantly.”
That interaction is still one of the things Brian values most about retail.
“It’s challenging, and we’re basically here taking care of people,” he says. “Trying to keep them happy. And it’s exciting just to see how product moves, what you can sell.”
For Justin, that variety is part of the attraction, too.
“I love the variety of retail,” he says. “It seems like there are plenty of challenges. And every day is different. There’s always something to do. I like to stay busy. But the biggest thing is just the people.”
The lessons Dave left behind
Ask Brian about the lessons his father left him, and one phrase seems to define the retail DNA at Dave’s: “Love them all.”
That lesson is particularly important when dealing with customers.
“If you have a disgruntled customer and maybe they are in the wrong, they’re never wrong,” Brian says. “‘You love them all.’”
That philosophy has become part of the way Dave’s approaches customer service.
The store emphasizes treating customers as guests. Employees are encouraged to call customers by their first names, ask whether they found everything they need, and carry their groceries to the car.
Dave’s even maintains a carryout team, something Justin says has become increasingly uncommon in the grocery business.
“We’ll carry every grocery order out to the customers’ cars,” Justin says. “Pack them for them. We want them to walk away and feel valued.”
Brian says his family recognizes the heavy competition for customers.
“We try to bring them here instead of going to big box stores, because it’s more of a personal experience,” he says. “We still have to compete with those box stores, even though they’re 15 miles away.”
Dave’s competes in the changing grocery landscape not necessarily by being the biggest, but by giving customers a reason to come back. The Steffens believe there is something difficult to replicate in a place where employees know their customers and genuinely try to create a memorable shopping experience.
“We’d like to think that we have big city selection, but small town hospitality,” Justin says.
Faith at the heart of the business
As customers enter the store at Dave’s, the family’s Christian faith is front and center. There is a stand behind the cashiers where free Bibles are available. And Dave’s is closed every Sunday.
In the retail grocery business, where Sunday can be an important shopping day, that decision is intentional.
Brian says his parents had a strong Christian faith, and that faith was passed down through the family.
“We are a unique grocery store,” he says. “We’re closed every Sunday. Customers are used to that.”
The Steffens encourage employees to find a church and attend on Sunday, and Brian believes the decision has been part of the store’s story.
“We feel that God blesses that,” he says.
For Brian, faith also connects directly to the most basic purpose of a grocery store.
“We’re feeding people. Everybody needs to eat,” he says. “And the Lord has allowed us to be instrumental in people getting fed with a variety of different foods. It’s pretty incredible how there’s so many different varieties and so many different tastes,” Brian says. “And certain people like one thing and other people love another thing, and that’s all kind of a God thing in itself.”
A business built around people
Brian says he has experienced nearly every chapter of the store’s evolution.
He remembers riding his bicycle through the aisles and shooting baskets near the front while he waited for his father. He has watched walls come down and additions get built.
He has watched employees build careers at Dave’s, with some employees eventually bringing their own children and grandchildren to work at the store.
“Retail’s been good to me all these years because it’s exciting and challenging, and we’ve been able to have a team that we can support and they support us,” Brian says.
Now Brian is preparing to retire. And that makes the third generation particularly meaningful.
“I’m actually getting ready to retire in November of 2026, and we’re very thankful for the third generation,” he says. “Otherwise, this place may have been up for sale a year or two ago.”
Instead, the family business continues.
“My dad would be thrilled if he would see the job these guys are doing and the tradition can continue of Dave’s Supermarket in Fairbury,” Brian says.
Justin understands the responsibility as the next generation at Dave’s.
“It’s an honor to carry on the family business and to be part of the third generation here,” he says. “Continue on the legacy that was started by grandparents and the second generation.”
He remembers working alongside his grandfather, particularly in the produce department, which was Dave’s passion.
“My grandfather’s motto was ‘a fast nickel is better than a slow dime.’ He was all about pushing product. And back then, it was a lot of center store competition with dry grocery. And we used to be the cheapest on the block before the big box stores. And that’s harder and harder to do, but that’s okay. Our customers are loyal to us because of the experience here.”
Even as a high school student, Justin says he was given room to make decisions, set displays, and learn the business.
Those lessons remain with him. So does the larger lesson of what a grocery store can mean to a community.
“The grocery business is incredibly important to a small community,” Justin says.
And perhaps that is why, after 76 years, Dave’s Supermarket is a retail fixture in Fairbury.
It has changed with the times. It has grown. It has competed. It has adapted. But the heart of the business remains remarkably similar to what Dave and Emmy built in 1950.
Take care of people. Work hard. Love them all. And, every day, find another way to WOW the customer.
