Dixie Shipley & Delta Grocery

April 15th, 1962 was just like any other day for Dixie Shipley. Every day of the work week, Dixie would drive to Oskaloosa for her office job at an overall factory. On this particular April day, her life would completely change. Returning home from Oskaloosa, her husband Melvin, better known as Tobe, announced to her that, “You don’t have to drive to Oskaloosa to work anymore; I bought the grocery store for you.” It was a bit of a shock for her as she said, “I didn’t know I minded driving to Oskaloosa to work.” She wasn’t too upset though and put in her notice at the factory, joining her husband in owning and operating the Delta Grocery, which she has done ever since.

Fortunately, the grocery store wasn’t the young couple’s first introduction to owning a business. They had already owned a restaurant in Delta, which had two locations between 1959 and 1967. Tobe also ran a clock shop from 1967 until 2001, so they were certainly capable of running and maintaining a business.

Prior to their business ventures, they started dating between Dixie’s junior and senior years in high school. One night, while walking to a pizza parlor after their shift as carhops, Tobe pulled up in his car and offered to give Dixie and her friends a ride to their destination. Dixie and Tobe began dating after that. They were married a year later in December of 1961 and were the owners of the Delta Grocery just six months after marriage. Tobe passed away in 2001, and Dixie has continued to run the grocery ever since.

Owning a grocery store wasn’t all that Dixie had her hands on. She spent 24 years as a substitute mail carrier for the post offices at both Eldon and Sigourney. Tobe spent his time at the clock shop at the back of the grocery store or in Sigourney painting signs for businesses. He also painted freehand designs for demolition vehicles and did some oil painting; the Delta covered bridge being his most popular subject matter.

Over the years Dixie has seen many changes inside and outside of her store. When she first started, all of the inventory was delivered. Today, only Little Debbie, Pepsi, and Dr. Pepper makes deliveries. Because of that, she has to restock her inventory on Sunday afternoons before opening at 4pm. She has also seen changes in the kinds of things she has sold over the years. There weren’t any electronics sold in 1962, hunting and fishing licenses, lottery tickets, nor were there credit cards to pay with. All of those things are common in today’s grocery stores. Dixie has seen plenty of change on the outside of her walls as well. The elementary school closed years ago in 1974, the bank closed its doors in 1988, and the post office said goodbye to Delta in 2008. One of the bigger blows to Dixie was the loss of the bank. When it was open, she would pop in to make deposits and get quarters for change. Now, without a bank in town (and one that was right across the street) Dixie is forced to close the grocery if she needs to travel to one.

One thing that makes her grocery store so unique is all of the things that grab the attention of visitors. Dixie enjoys collecting Christmas gifts, salt and pepper shakers, and miniature lighthouses, among all of the other treasures she has collected over the years. She has an entire aisle dedicated to her personal collections, which are not for sale. She is an avid collector of Delta memorabilia and has a display case of various Delta treasures. She also keeps her wedding album in the store and is more than happy to allow anyone to look through her memories.

She is on a first name basis with all of her regular customers; many come in to grab a snack but also to say hi and check on her. Dixie says that a lot of her customers are from the area and quite a few are residents of Delta. She also catches travelers on their way between Ottumwa and Waterloo.

If Dixie has any thoughts of retirement, she hasn’t indicated them yet. When asked about her future plans, she said, “I guess I don’t really know. I just take one day at a time.” As a young girl she always “figured I would just work for somebody local”. She never imagined that she would be working for herself. Looking back at her life as a grocery store owner, Dixie says, “I’ve enjoyed what I’ve done and the people that I’ve met have been very special to me.” As long as she has customers, it’s inconceivable that Dixie will ever close the Delta Grocery.

Delta Grocery
101 N Center Street
Delta, Iowa 52550
(641) 624-2080
Hours: Sun 4pm-6pm; Mon-Sat 8 am-6pm

Photos: Jacob Glandon
Video available at https://youtu.be/ipELSxXfC3M