HILD BROTHERS - Key Persons

Glenn Hild, Cleburne's son who runs the grocery and feed business, said during the store's first three decades, in the 1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s, its customers were primarily rural farmers. The store had feed routes to serve those farmers in the outlying areas, with the feed and grain coming to Hild Brothers' silos by train "In the early days, we had a large number of chicken and hog farms (around Marion)," Glenn said. "We don't have as near as many people who farm for a living. Those numbers have declined. Especially those who raise hogs and chickens, that is pretty much gone. You can count them on one hand." Glenn said these days the store's top selling feed is for horses, goats and deer, and supplements for cattle, which is now used for a customer base who are primarily commuters and live in homes on smaller acres of property. Generations of customers have done business and worked at Hild Brothers. "I would imagine we have families, at least three or four generations, we have been dealing with," said Glenn, who has been working at the store since he was a teenager. "I have customers who are coming in who I sold (groceries and feed) to their grandparents and great-grandparents. There have been generations of families who have worked here." While the store will be under a new name and new management in the near future, Glenn and John Hild, Glenn's brother, will still run the feed business at the warehouse off FM 78.