Photo by Jody Isaackson The Hubers of Jim’s Market in Canby were presented with a special plaque Wednesday morning by Red Owl representative Damian Krumwiede in celebration of 50 years in the grocery business. Pictured are Wayne Giese, Bernie Wollum, Jim Huber, Paul Huber and Krumwiede.

CANBY — Loyalty has always been important to the Hubers.

Owner Paul Huber celebrated the 50th anniversary of Jim’s Market with employees and customers Wednesday. Huber’s father, Jim, the former owner, also joined the festivities.

Part of the festivities included recognizing longtime employees such as dairy department manager Wayne Giese who has been with the market for the entire 50 years.

“That’s loyalty,” Jim Huber, 88, said.

Other loyal employees of over 10 years include: Barb Ries, 40 years; Donna Crommert, 37 years; Mary DeVos, 29 years; Brian McKeen, 20 years; Mark Sanow, 19 years; Darlene Moeller, 18 years; Bernie Wollum, 17 years; Donna Lopau, 13 years; Lana DePestel, 11 years; and Amanda Anderson, 11 years.

All of the longtime employees are listed on a poster prominently displayed near the front entrance.

Huber started Jim’s Market back in 1968, when it was called Jim’s Red Owl on Main Street, Canby.

“It was uptown where the Cass Plumbing is now,” store manager McKeen said.

The celebration kicked off with a presentation of a special collage portrait presented by Super Valu retail specialist Damian Krumwiede. The collage colorfully depicted store moments over the years.

“Now we have to find some place to display it,” current owner Paul Huber said.

Paul Huber bought out his father, Jim, after he graduated college.

“I started working in the store in 1979 when I was 14,” Paul Huber said. “When I went off to college in 1983, I had two goals: Never to work in retail and never live in a small town. In 1993, I bought the store from Mom and Dad.”

Jim Huber had also grown up with a father in the grocery business.

“I grew up in Belle Plaine and spent six years in the Air Force,” Jim Huber said. He served in the Far East, in Europe and in the U.S. It was when he was in England that he met his wife, Margaret, who died in 2001. They met in London, their son said.

When Jim Huber returned home, he worked six years for his father, Frank, at Hubers Red Owl in Belle Plaine before opening his own store in Fulda in 1965.

Jim’s Red Owl in Canby started with seven or eight full-time employees, Jim Huber said.

“The store was only about a third of the size as it is now,” he said. “We carried only three or four kinds of soap on the shelf. That was probably all that was manufactured at that time. Back then, I probably would’ve gotten lost in a store this size.”

In 1977, when the store moved out to 911 St. Olaf Ave. N., the store began to expand. Now, it has 59 full-time and part-time employees.

In the south half of the then new building, where there used to be a Gambles store, there is now a liquor store bearing the name, Jim’s Wine and Spirits.

The Hubers also own four other locations of Jim’s Markets: Slayton, which opened in 2003, Zimmerman, which opened in 2010, Elbow Lake, which opened in 2014 and Springfield which opened in 2016.

There will be a parking lot party Saturday from 4-8 p.m., with live music by Downtown Sound Band, a beer garden, dunk tank, free food, face painting, prizes and bounce houses.

There will also be a rib fest from 11 a.m.-3 p.m.