The manager of Waterloo Schnucks retired recently, marking the end of a decades-long career that saw him move from teenage bagger to overseeing the grocery store.

Kent Schuchman grew up in Belleville, attending Belleville West High School. Though he briefly worked at Dairy Queen for about a year, he managed to secure a job at the hometown Schnucks to close out his high school career.

Schuchman recalled how, given Schnucks’ exceptionally tough hiring requirements at the time, he was luckily able to get the job thanks to a friend of his father’s who was also working at the West Belleville store.

Moving from bagging groceries and returning carts to the grocery department, Schuchman attended college during his initial years at the store, moving to the East Belleville location for two years.

He then transferred back to the west store for another seven years, then working in Swansea from 1995-1997 before ultimately landing at the Waterloo Schnucks, which was previously located at the current home of Rural King.

Schuchman was able to climb the ranks over the years, coming to Waterloo as co-manager.

On April 1, 2005, he was finally promoted to store manager. Schuchman voiced his appreciation for the way he was able to progress within the locally-owned business.

“Schnucks is very good about, you start at the bottom, and you move up,” Schuchman said. “They’re good about moving people. They like to promote from within. They’ve always done that. So, I was very fortunate in that way. And I’ve always enjoyed working for Schnucks because it’s a family-owned company, and they always are good to their employees.”

Though few specific anecdotes came to mind, Schuchman spoke generally about the experience he had working for Schnucks for so many years.

One area he focused on was how technology so drastically changed operations for the grocery store.

In the early years of his career, everything in the store had to be individually price stamped, and cashiers had to have remarkably nimble fingers in order to quickly get customers through the checkout line.

The implementation of scanning made things much more convenient – as did the automation of restocking orders.

Schuchman said one of the best and most memorable parts of his job was the plethora of people he was able to get to know over the years.

From co-workers to customers, there are many in the community who have come to closely associate the Waterloo Schnucks with Schuchman himself.

“I’ve still got relationships. I help people from when I started,” Schuchman said. “I’ve had young kids work for me, and they use Schnucks as just like a bridge job as they move on to their other career.”

Schuchman also recalled a somewhat less fond memory than the many faces he came to know: the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many will recall the strain placed on grocery stores during the height of the pandemic, and while Schuchman described some of the difficulties, he also managed to find a personal silver lining to the situation.

“That was quite challenging,” Schuchman said. “It was kinda neat to go through it, not that I wanna wish it on anybody. But it was really nice to be able to do things that you felt like you’re making a difference in the community. I mean, people thought you just buy groceries, but people were depending on you to get that food out. It’s people wanting milk for their kids, wanting to know when the next roll of toilet paper was coming in. We just felt like we provided a service and really provided for the people in a time of need.”

Many in the community and within the store are sure to remember Schuchman fondly as he moves on to retirement.

Among them is his longtime coworker Scott Pflueger, who started with the Waterloo Schnucks as a bagger while Schuchman was co-manager.

“He was a wonderful manager to work for, and we became great friends in that time,” Pflueger said. “I worked front-end manager, customer service manager with him. We had a lot of fun times together, a lot of laughs.”

Also showing their appreciation during a recent retirement celebration for Schuchman at the store were members of the Schnuck family, including Vice President Ted, Chairman Emeritus Craig and President/CEO Todd.

“Kent has been an exemplary manager,” Todd said. “He is Schnucks in Waterloo. He is the guy. When people think of Schnucks, they think about Kent.”

Schuchman expressed his appreciation for the turnout at his retirement celebration, remarking how thankful he was to have the store’s namesakes acknowledge his contribution.

Schuchman also noted how thankful he is to have had the support of his wife throughout his career – including the many holidays and weekends he worked.

“It’s something I will always have close to my heart as I go on to the next phase of my life,” Schuchman said. “It was very neat. It was very nice.”

Regarding his retirement, Schuchman said he and his wife generally plan to do a great deal of traveling, bouncing around national parks and other destinations, potentially even making their way to Europe to visit some of the many exchange students they’ve hosted over the years.

He’s also just happy to be able to enjoy holidays and the rest of his time with family.

“Not that I don’t like working, but I don’t think I’ve had a Christmas off in 40-plus years,” Schuchman said. “It’s gonna be nice to join the holidays. I like working during the holidays, but getting to enjoy them in a different way and spending time with family, mostly just traveling. Like my wife says, between 60-70, that’s your go-go years, so we have a lot of trips planned.”