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Tadych’s celebrates 50 years

When you ask Jim Tadych why he has been in the supermarket business for 50 years, he will tell you it is because he loves people. Being able to fill the needs of his customers has been his passion since he bought his first store in Brillion, Wisconsin, in July 1968, according to a company press release.

His father, Victor, got into the grocery store business as a teenager in the 1920s and later opened Fairview Market in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, where Jim started packing potatoes in grade school. In the early 1960s, Jim took time away from his father’s family business to serve in the Army. After his return, he started a family and began to search for a store to buy.

In 1968, he found a small store in Brillion, Wisconsin, a turn-of-the-century blacksmith shop converted into a grocery store with less than 700 square feet of space. For decades it was known as Doughty’s Grocery, although Keenway name remained on the building. You can find a picture of this store prominently displayed in every Tadych’s Econofoods.

The store served as a modest beginning for Jim. He, his wife, Pat, and their three kids lived above the business. Fifty years after T&C Market first opened its doors, Jim Tadych knows the answer to the question he asked himself in 1968. “I have gotten into, not only a business or career, but a way of life,” he said in the release. “A blessed life filled with many challenges. But those challenges are offset by the many great friends, employees and customers I get to work with every day.”

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