'This ... is coming home': Hutch native, Kroger CEO's speech focuses on his personal insights.

Oct 01, 2009 (The Hutchinson News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- KR | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- It was billed as a lecture, but corporate executive David Dillon's remarks Wednesday in Hutchinson at times sounded like a love-letter/thank-you note to his hometown.

"This really is coming home," the Hutchinson native and chairman and chief executive officer of the Cincinnati-based Kroger Co. told those attending Hutchinson Community College's Dillon Lecture at the Sports Arena.

Adhering to the standard Dillon Lecture Series schedule, Dillon participated in a morning press conference, followed by the lecture, and wrapped up with a luncheon at HCC's Stringer Fine Arts Center.

When asked, he offered his view on the economic outlook: Slow for a couple of years. And he answered a question on health care reform: Needed, but private insurance rather than a government-run program is preferable.

But mostly, the message was personal.

He recalled his fourth-grade teacher, the late Cleta Stewart, who instilled in him "a sense of personal self-confidence," and he also spoke of mentors who imparted insights. He expressed gratitude and love for his parents, Paul and Ruth Dillon, and told those at the luncheon he had "genuinely looked forward" to this visit, "to express how much you meant to me."

Fourth generation

Dillon's great-grandfather, J.S. Dillon, started the grocery store chain that still bears the family name. Dillon Stores is part of The Kroger Co., described in the lecture brochure as "the nation's largest operator of traditional supermarkets."

The Kroger umbrella covers approximately 326,000 employees, nearly 2,500 retail stores, 700 convenience stores, more than 400 jewelry stores, and 40 manufacturing plants.

The lecture series is named for Dillon's great uncle and aunt, Ray and Stella Dillon, and Dillon spoke under a suspended scoreboard that carried an advertisement for Dillons supermarket. The Dillon Lecture Series is decades old.

Dillon, 58, served as student body president at Hutchinson High School -- he'll be attending the Class of '69's 40th reunion this weekend -- and also was elected student body president at the University of Kansas. He holds a law degree, but his career has been spent in supermarket sector management.

Greensburg lessons

Talking about lessons learned, Dillon started with the 2007 tornado that wiped out much of Greensburg, including the Dillons grocery store and a Kwik Shop.

Immediately, company officials determined, the Kwik Shop should be rebuilt. But what about the grocery store?

Community members considered a grocery store key to the town's recovery. Then-Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and U.S. Rep. Jerry Moran, R-Hays., contacted Dillon, advocating for a store without pressuring.

"Be creative," Sebelius had said, Dillon recalled.

Kroger responded with an experiment: A combination Dillons and Kwik Shop, run by Kwik Shop and twice the size of a regular Kwik Shop.

The collaborative approach is showing signs of success. Dillon has visited the Greensburg store a couple of times and observed that it's become a hub in the rebuilding town.

Other lessons

Feedback is vital, he noted, and comes if the question is framed: "What happened?" not "Whose fault is this?"

Honesty is more than just being truthful, he said, and Kroger reached a turning point nine years ago, when, he said, it acknowledged its stores were not as good as they had been.

But for five years in a row now, he pointed out, grocery prices have dropped while the retailer also has focused on product quality and the shopping experience.

Dillon also mentioned his Christian beliefs -- he once thought about becoming a minister -- and noted that his church life began in Hutchinson.

"You ought to be introspective enough to think about God," he said.

When he reached the topic of friendship, he segued to a salute to the late Barbara Peirce, of Hutchinson. Once a year, a lecture in the Dillon series is the Barbara Peirce Memorial Lecture. Dillon and wife Dee Dillon had been friends of Peirce and her husband, Kenneth Peirce, who regarded it as appropriate that Dillon should give the Barbara Peirce Memorial Lecture.

Barbara Peirce was "the best role model on friendship of anyone I've ever known," Dillon said, someone who was totally honest and listened well.

Peirce died in 1995, but Dillon said he and his wife have seen her twice since then. He related two occasions when an owl unexpectedly appeared and recalled how Pearce had collected owls.

Large turnout

An estimated 900 people heard Dillon's talk, a larger-than-normal turnout for a lecture. Included in the audience were Dillon and Peirce family members, Kroger employees, Dillon Lecture Series patrons, and students ranging from elementary school to college. At lunch, tables were set up in a different fashion to allow more seating.

On the local front, Dillon said the Dillons assistant manager John Beavers II, who was stabbed in the abdomen when he tried to stop a shoplifter in August at the Hutchinson store on East Fourth Avenue, did "absolutely" everything right. Dillon said he had called Beavers, also saying he was very proud of him.

Asked about the possibility of a Dillons Marketplace store being put in Hutchinson, Dillon said it has been eyed, but such large stores require a lot of trade volume to keep prices down.

Competition has gone up "a notch or two" in the last six months as grocery retailers jockey for consumers who've grown guarded about spending, Dillon observed.

Milk and produce prices are lower, and that's a conscious decision to get the customer in the door, he said.

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