VIDEO | Success Story: Ron Rehkopf recognized for a lifetime of retail achievement

Well-known local grocer Ron Rehkopf was recently honored with a lifetime achievement award from the Texas Retailers Association.
Well-known local grocer Ron Rehkopf was recently honored with a lifetime achievement award from the Texas Retailers Association.

The Texas Retailers Association, the trade organization representing Texas retailers to Austin and Washington, D.C., recently recognized Ron Rehkopf for a lifetime of achievement in retail.

A long-established name in local and regional business success, Rehkopf made it clear that he did not come by his success on his own.

"My success is because of my employees," he said, making sure to credit all those who contributed to his achievements. He also made it clear that his family was key in making it happen. With his brother, Terry, as a partner in his efforts almost from the beginning, and with a family steeped in the grocery business, he was surrounded by a team of people there to help.

"My family goes a long way back in Texarkana, dating back before the Great Depression. They established area grocery stores and that's the environment I grew up in," he said.

Rehkopf enjoyed a childhood in Texarkana, or Wake Village, to be precise. After college, he worked in business in Houston and Dallas, and though he enjoyed success in those environments, he realized that he wanted to raise his family in the small town environment that he knew as a child.

"So I bought my first grocery store in Texarkana, Arkansas, on 24th and Jefferson," he said.

"I raised two beautiful daughters here, Traci Rene Walker and Tara K. Thompson, neither of whom got into the family business," he added.

His first grocery store, Rehkopf's Family Foods, had himself and three other people as employees. The initial period was a struggle as the business sought to be established.

"Dad said, 'Son, you are the happiest broke individual I know," he said. "We did struggle for a few years but reached the point where we could buy the second store in Wake Village in 1989. Then a third in Hooks in 1995."

Ten years after the business was established, Terry Rehkopf joined the business. Over time, the business expanded to 15 stores and an Ace Hardware business. The grocery stores eventually changed their name to Cash Savers. Now, 10 outlets and 225 to 250 employees, the Rehkopf brothers are semi-retired, having turned day-to-day operations over to two key persons.

"One of my daughters married a man named Michael Walker. My son-in-law joined the business and is now the general manager of Rehkopf Enterprises," he said. "Also, Deanne Estes, who joined the Jefferson store as my frozen foods manager, is now the chief financial officer of the business. Rehkopf Enterprises would not be where it is now without either of them."

Now, having been recognized for a lifetime of achievement by the Texas Retailers Association, he credits a few principles for the success of his enterprises. Besides finding a niche that worked for him, that being operating in small towns in the four states area, he credits a few simple principles for succeeding in business.

"Treat your customers with courtesy and respect," he said. "Retail can be hard, but at all times, be decent to your customers. You won't always have all the answers, but go the extra distance to be decent to those who bring you business. Also, always offer good value and service. Be consistent in all these things. And hire people who understand these things and can also deliver consistently."

As to Texarkana, the place that has served as home to his business and family, he said.

"As a person involved in retail in multiple cities and different levels, Texarkana has been good to me and my family as well as my brother. This is an excellent place to live and raise a family."

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