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Ray E. Dillon

Grocery chain founder.

Ray Dillon worked in his father's grocery store in Sterling as a boy. After World War I, Ray with John and Clyde, his father and brother, began building grocery stores in Kansas. In the 1940s the 24 Dillons stores became self-service supermarkets. Instead of clerks filling grocery orders, customers pushed carts around the stores and selected items off the shelves.

Dillons supermarkets expanded outside Kansas as did their Kwik Shops. The Kroger Corporation purchased most of the Dillons companies in the 1980s. He was named the Native Sons and Daughters' Kansan of the Year in 1971. Ray Dillon was inducted into the Kansas Business Hall of Fame in 1991.

Entry: Dillon, Ray E.

Author: G. Joseph Pierron

Author information: Judge Pierron serves on the Kansas Court of Appeals and has an interest in Kansas history.

Date Created: November 2012

Date Modified: August 2013

The author of this article is solely responsible for its content.