S.H. Wilde Wholesale Company A Family & Community Business
Writer's Note: In keeping with the series of stories about family businesses in earlier Macomb times, I recently interviewed Jean (Wilde) Marlow on her family's long-running Macomb wholesale goods business. S.H. Wilde Wholesale Company had an amazing run in Macomb for 43 years, 1948-1991.
How it All Began - S.H. Wilde 'Grandpa' Sylvester H. Wilde, commonly called 'Syl', moved to Macomb from Quincy in 1932. He had been asked to become manager at Scudder Gale Grocery Co. In 1948, an ambitious Syl decided to begin his own business, initially working out of his garage and named it S.H. Wilde Wholesale Company. He soon relocated to 217 North Randolph Street just north of what is now The Lamoine Assisted Living and Memory Care.
Syl, (Sylvestor Henry) would go on to have one son, two daughters, three stepsons, 13 grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren.
The focus of this story is on his son, H.E. (Harold Edward) who was also known as 'Skip'.
Syl and his son Skip would work side by side to create a wholesale dynasty in Macomb that would run for 43 years.
In an era before the Wal-Marts and Dot Foods Corporations, Skip would become a master in sales routes, beginning right out of Western High School in 1952.
Skip Wilde was born in 1934. By the time he was in high school he had become a tremendous athlete and stood an impressive 6'7' tall.
Lettering in three sports, and excelling in basketball, he probably could have gone on to college to play the sport, but Skip had other plans.
Those plans were to stay in Macomb and work beside his father to build S.H. Wilde Wholesale Company into a formidable business, the precursor to a 'Dot Foods' of that era.
In 1952, Skip married Dorothy Jean Belden at St. Paul's Catholic Church in Macomb. The two would eventually have five children. Jean was born in 1953, Kay in 1955, Kim in 1957, Marissa in 1966 and son 'Chip' in 1969.
One can only imagine the flurry of activity at the Wilde's houses on Monroe Street and later Karenoaks.
Most of the Wilde family worked at the warehouse, much to Skip's delight, with the exceptions of Mom Dorothy and daughters, Jean and Marissa.
Mom worked for Sago Foods at WIU, and 4th daughter Marissa, would ironically attend WIU and obtain a degree in business.
Oldest daughter Jean would later become a social worker and teacher, but would substitute at the warehouse if help was needed.
Kay and Kim helped with sales, while Chip handled the in-town deliveries as a summer job in high school and college. Also joining the family business were Skip's two son-in-laws. Tom Twaddle assisted with sales and was married to Skip's daughter Kim. Terry Twaddle was then Kay's husband (yes the girls married brothers), and Terry managed the operations within the warehouse.
The Business Vs Family time Skip Wilde worked long days in both miles and hours. The bright, hard working man realized that he needed to balance his time with both his business and his large family.
Wilde came up with a solution-he would take his children to work with him (before taking your children to work became 'a thing').
The children would get up early in the mornings and head out on the highway with their dad. Their destinations were restaurants, ice cream businesses, mom and pop grocery stores, taverns, schools and WIU University- any place that would possibly need dry goods at wholesale costs.
The businesses learned to know the Wilde kids, would quiz them on their interests, and upon parting almost always gave the kids a gift.
A candy bar, pack of gum, bottle of pop, by the time Skip and the kids returned home the kids were quite full.
Skip Wilde was making a living for his family and spending quality time with his children at the same time. He was a step ahead of his time. If one could only have recordings of those conversations in the car, from sun-up until nightfall, between Skip Wilde and his children, how precious they would be.
The routes Skip covered were mostly west-central Illinois. This was more than enough to keep him busy.
Remember at one time Bushnell, IL alone had 6 or 7 grocery stores.
Cigarette taxes were handled differently in Iowa, and Skip never crossed the river for that reason. In those days packages of cigarettes were required to have a paper stamp glued on the package, and Skip taught his children how to use a machine to apply those stamps. The Wilde warehouse at any given time would have $100,000-$200,000 of stamps, purchased at the Department of Revenue in Springfield, in the warehouse.
Skip Wilde was a pioneer, a man that worked long hours and had an impeccable work ethic. The warehouse was only closed on Saturday afternoons and Sunday, in order to spend family time. Sometimes Skip would play golf on Thursday afternoons, with the warehouse covered by others.
Skip was able to work side by side with his father, be part of his children's lives, and provide a valuable service to his hometown. Skip Wilde had the perfect family business.
The warehouse did not sell meat, fresh produce, frozen goods or alcohol. Still, even without selling perishables, there was a certain amount of work involved in running the warehouse.
The Wildes had outgrown the small two-story building at 217 N. Randolph, and bought a larger building, where Gelsosomo's Pizza now does business, boasting nearly 8000 square feet of space.
The Wilde's had to make sure the building was not too hot or too cold, as temperatures of varying extremes can melt or freeze the product.
Sometimes alarms would go off in the middle of the night, requiring Skip or his father to go check things out. Products on the shelves had to be rotated, but Jean adds this usually wasn't a problem as their stock did not sit on the shelves for long.
At any given time, S.H.
Wilde Wholesale Company had in excess of a million dollars of merchandise sitting on its shelves. One might wonder how all of this inventory was tracked and disbursed. It was all recorded with pen/pencil and paper.
The Wilde Company never went computerized There were perks to being Skip Wilde's child. Such as trips to Chicago's Wrigley Field. Not only did the Wilde children get to see a ball game-they got to meet Mr.
Wrigley himself, as well as players Ron Santo, Billy Williams and Ernie Banks. Not long after the Wilde family returned to Macomb, each child received in the mail, a box of Wrigley chewing gum. Each child received a different flavor; Juicy Fruit, Spearmint, Doublemint, etc. Jean Wilde Marlow feels that their family, during the warehouse days, was solidly middle class. She does not feel they were wealthy, but that if any of the kids ever needed anything her parents were able to afford it. This had to be a source of pride to Skip Wilde, a man who bypassed college scholarships to become a businessman with only a high school education.
Community
Skip Wilde bought the family business from his father in 1976-the senior Wilde passed away in 1989. Even after Skip purchased the warehouse, the name remained S.H. Wilde Warehouse Company, in honor of the founder.
S. H. Wilde Wholesale Company, with Skip at the helm, was known to be sponsors of many, many community events. Known to be SO generous, Skip many times included extra goods in an order without billing the customer for it (Skip was known to let struggling customers slide on their tabs). Perhaps it was Skip Wilde's early version of 'pay it forward'.
Wilde was especially kind to St. Paul Catholic Church and the School, and is also in the WIU Hall of Fame for donating so many athletic scholarships for football and basketball. Many of Skip Wilde's donations to community events, fundraisers, etc. were sent as 'Anonymous'. Jean remarks that her dad was extremely kind, bright and had a remarkable talent for doing difficult math calculations in his head.
The Writing on the Wall Around 1991, Skip began to see changes. Wal-Mart was in Macomb and they could sell products as cheap or cheaper than Wilde Wholesale.
The Macomb Wal-Mart manager, impressed with Wilde's business, would place orders with S.H. Wilde Wholesale Company. Jean believes this is the only Wal-Mart in the county that ordered from a local supplier.
Skip Wilde had foresight, and perhaps 'saw the writing on the wall' as soon as 10 years ahead of other business owners during the time of the tidal wave of Wal-Mart's power.
Skip Wilde decided to put the business up for sale, putting an end to the 43 year old partnership with Macomb, Illinois. Jim Buwick would purchase the building in 1992, remodel it and build within its walls Aurelio's Pizza, now Gelsosomo's.
Skip and his wife Jean were able to retire young-Skip was only 57 and they bought a second home in North Fort Myers, Florida.
While interviewing Jean, 'Skip' Wildes oldest child, I kept feeling as if I had heard a similar story before.
It later occurred to me that the life of Skip Wilde closely paralleled the lives of two other early Macomb entrepreneurs I have written about. I found several similar characteristics between the lives of Oliver Featherlin, Wayne Kelly and Skip Wilde. The key to their success was their intense work ethic and their will to succeed along with balancing a family life.
These three men most likely knew each other, and also probably did business with one another.
