Eby-Brown is the largest privately owned tobacco

Tobacco

Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...

, candy

Candy

Candy, specifically sugar candy, is a confection made from a concentrated solution of sugar in water, to which flavorings and colorants are added...

 and convenience distributor in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Founded in 1887, Eby-Brown has been led by members of the Wake family for over 50 years.

Locations

Eby-Brown's corporate headquarters is located in Naperville, Illinois

Naperville, Illinois

Naperville is a city in DuPage and Will Counties in Illinois in the United States, voted the second best place to live in the United States by Money Magazine in 2006. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 141,853. It is the fifth largest city in the state, behind Chicago,...

. Eby-Brown's seven distribution centers are located in:

• Plainfield, IN
• Montgomery, IL
• Rockmart, GA
• Baltimore, MD
• Eau Claire, WI
• Springfield, OH
• Ypsilanti, MI

In the Beginning

In 1888, Jacob Eby began a wholesale tobacco and candy manufacturing business at 128 W. Downer Place in Aurora, Illinois

Aurora, Illinois

Aurora is the second most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and the 112th largest city in the United States. A suburb of Chicago, located west of the Loop, its population in 2010 was 197,899. Originally founded within Kane County, Aurora's city limits have expanded greatly over the past...

. In 1892, he formed a partnership with Edward Hinman and operated as "Eby and Hinman." A few years later, Peter Michels joined the firm and the company became "Eby, Hinman and Michels." In 1904, Michels sold his share of the business to C.C. Loser and T.H. Day, and the company was renamed Eby Loser Co." Loser and Day disposed of their holdings in 1907, but the firm continued to operate as Eby Loser until 1930. In 1912, candy manufacturing was discontinued. In 1930, Mr. Eby sold out to R.H. Youngen and A.E. Hallman, who renamed the company "Eby-Youngen."

The Last Name Change

After World War II, Lyle Brown, Sr. bought out Youngen and Hallman, and gave the business its present name, "Eby-Brown Co." Lyle Brown discontinued the company's Schlitz Beer distributorship (even though the trucks continue to be painted in the traditional Schlitz color scheme to this day). Under Lyle Brown's direction, Eby-Brown Aurora and Joliet expanded rapidly. Within eight years, Brown had created Elgin Eby-Brown.

The Family Business Anew

In 1956, W.H. (Mike) Michael and W.S. (Bill) Wake, two Elgin Eby-Brown salespeople, bought Elgin Eby-Brown. A year later, they bought Aurora Eby-Brown. The J.C. Theis Co. was purchased in 1960 and transformed into McHenry Eby-Brown. Galesburg Eby-Brown was begun in 1976, when the assets of Galesburg Cigar were purchased.

Current generation

In 1983, Mike Michael sold his interest in Eby-Brown to Bill Wake. Later that year, Tom and Dick Wake began to assume ownership of the Eby-Brown companies. Early in 1989, assets of Schiller Wholesale of Michigan were purchased. In mid-1989, assets of the Smith-Harris Company of Indianapolis were purchased, extending Eby-Brown's reach into Ohio and Kentucky. In January 1994, assets of Bosart Company of Springfield, Ohio were purchased. In March 1998, the assets of J.L. Lester Company of Rockmart, Georgia were purchased. In February 1999, Eby-Brown in Eau Claire, Wisconsin opened. In April 1999, Eby-Brown in Orlando, Florida opened. In September 2000, the assets of F.A. Davis and Sons in Baltimore, Maryland were purchased. In December 2000, Aurora Eby-Brown moved to Montgomery, Illinois. In January 2001, Elgin Eby-Brown joined the Aurora members in Montgomery. Also in January 2001, McHenry Eby-Brown merged with Eau Claire Eby-Brown. The Orlando, Florida location was closed in December 2005. In January 2008, the commissary operations in Springfield, Ohio expanded into a new company called NewFreshCo Foods LLC. The new company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Eby-Brown LLC. It operates under the name Wakefield Sandwich Company. This new company is a natural extension of Eby's 10 plus years' experience in creating and producing sandwiches and food solutions to the convenience retail and institutional markets.

Today, Eby-Brown is the third largest convenience distributor nationally, and continues to consolidate competitors and service programs from other vendors delivering convenience stores.

Service area

Convenience stores, drug stores, grocery stores, liquor stores, gas stations, newspaper stands, and schools are just some of the types of accounts Eby-Brown services. Today, Eby-Brown's service area includes Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

, Arkansas

Arkansas

Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...

, Connecticut

Connecticut

Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...

, Delaware

Delaware

Delaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...

, Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, Georgia

Georgia (U.S. state)

Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

, Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

, Indiana

Indiana

Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

, Iowa

Iowa

Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

, Kansas

Kansas

Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...

, Kentucky

Kentucky

The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

, Louisiana

Louisiana

Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

, Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

, Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

, Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

, Mississippi

Mississippi

Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...

, Missouri

Missouri

Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

, New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

, Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

, South Carolina

South Carolina

South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...

, Tennessee

Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

, Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

, West Virginia

West Virginia

West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...

, and Wisconsin

Wisconsin

Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...

.

Facts and figures

• $4.1 billion in sales
• 12,000 retail locations served
• 1,900,000 feet of warehouse space
• 2,100 employee members
• 7 distribution centers