In an agreement announced this morning, Teals Market and its Highway 75 convenience store in Luverne have been sold to Sunshine Foods, based out of Sioux Falls.
Sunshine Foods General Manager Brent Bosch said the store will remain open during the transition until it officially becomes Sunshine Foods in early October.
He also introduced Luverne native Jason Oye will be the store manager —moving here from the Sunshine Foods he currently manages in Jackson.
“Jason brings a vast amount of experience to our team,” Bosch said. “He has worked in wholesale and retail; he understands the supply chain.”
Oye and Bosch both graduated with the Luverne High School Class of 1996 and were roommates at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa.
“We’ve often joked that we don’t do business with friends, but I make an exception with Jason,” Bosch said.
“Jason has managed our Lennox store and most recently the Sunshine Foods in Jackson for 10 years and has done a very impressive job. … Jason is the perfect fit for this store based on his industry experience and the fact that he and his wife, Jessica (Bowron) are returning to their hometown.”
Oye said they’ve purchased a home in Luverne, and Jessica, an EMT, will begin an accelerated nursing program in Brookings this fall. Their daughter, Corryn, 12, will attend school in Luverne.
“I’m just happy to be coming back to Luverne,” Oye said. “It’s bigger, there’s more opportunities here and the quality of life here is amazing.”
He said an immediate challenge at the store will be hiring a meat cutter to replace that service that had been discontinued at Teal’s.
“All the other departments are good, and there are good people on board,” Oye said, adding that he anticipates no immediate staffing changes with the 75-some employees — 13-15 of which are full-time.
Bosch said Sunshine was interested in buying Glen’s Food Center in 2016 when it sold to Teal’s, but a no-compete agreement was in place through October of 2018.
Local grocery background
The Bosch family history in the grocery business dates back to 1976 when Tony Bosch opened his first grocery store, Tony’s Clover Farm, in Hills where he lived at the time.
In 1985 he purchased Les Murphy’s Foodland on Estey and Maple streets Luverne and it later became Jubilee Foods.
In 2000, Jubilee moved to the current Teal’s location after redeveloping the former Schoon Motors property between Cedar and Freeman avenues a block south of Main Street.
After earning his business degree, Brent Bosch began managing the store that year, and in 2001, he and Larry Goebel bought the store from his dad, Tony Bosch.
Goebel was a longtime local grocer who started in the business with his father, Kenny Goebel of Kenny’s Super Valu.
In early 2003, Brent Bosch and Goebel sold Jubilee store to Glen Gust, who moved from his previous grocery location on Lincoln Street (now Ace Hardware). It became the only grocery store in Luverne, which only five years prior had three grocery businesses.
Since 2003 Brent has been in charge of Sunshine Foods general operations, and Tony headed up Tony's Catering and focused on farming.
The two built the Brandon Sunshine Foods store and entered into partnerships with 16 stores in the tri-state area.
Tony has announced he will retire at the end of August and Brent will head up Sunshine operations. Brent's brother Craig and sister Dee will pick up catering duties.
Luverne will be the 17th location in Sunshine family of grocery stores.