Dahl's Foods

Ghost Corp Apparel — resurrecting iconic corporate ghosts.

Dahl’s Foods was a Des Moines grocery institution that served generations of Iowa shoppers for more than 80 years. Founded in 1931 by W.T. Dahl, the company grew from a small neighborhood grocery store into one of central Iowa’s best-known supermarket chains.

Over the decades, Dahl’s built a reputation for innovation as well as convenience. The chain introduced features that were unusual for their time, including in-store bakeries, drive-up grocery pickup systems, and early electronic payment technology. In 1981, a Dahl’s store in Des Moines was the site of what is widely credited as the first grocery-store purchase in the United States made with a debit card.

By the 2000s, however, competition from larger regional and national chains was becoming increasingly difficult. Dahl’s filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2014, and its remaining stores were sold and converted to other grocery brands in 2015, bringing more than eight decades of local retail history to an end.

Eighty-four years of groceries, bakeries, and checkout lines — eventually checked out for the last time.

Our Dahl’s Foods collection celebrates the familiar logo, neighborhood supermarkets, and the memory of a homegrown Iowa grocery chain that once felt like a permanent part of everyday life in Des Moines.