In the latest episode of IGA's retailer interview series, IGA CEO John Ross sat down with Kevin Bohman of Pride Family Market in Hanover, Indiana — a small Ohio River town of just 3,000–4,000 people — to talk community, family transition, and what it means to earn customer loyalty the quiet way.
Watch the interview below or keep reading for a recap.
A winding road back to the family business. Kevin's parents bought the store in 1988, and while he grew up working there through high school, his path back wasn't direct. He worked at an amusement park, then in automotive manufacturing as a project manager, before deciding to return home and run the store alongside his brother roughly six years ago.
Protecting the brand. When the store became an IGA, there was talk of renaming it "Hanover IGA." Kevin pushed back, insisting on keeping "Pride Family Market," as the name recognized the decades of brand equity and customer loyalty already built into that name.
Quiet generosity, not headline-seeking. Asked how he decides which community requests to support, Kevin said the answer is essentially never turning anyone away, from sponsoring youth sports teams and Boy Scout troops to quietly letting customers who are short on cash settle up the following week. He's deliberate about keeping this support low-key, framing it not as a marketing strategy but simply as doing right by the community.
Investing for the next 30 years. With original equipment from the 1980s starting to age out, Kevin and his brother Nicholas have made new investments — including new deli and smoked meat cases installed just weeks before this interview — to modernize the store and ensure it's built to serve Hanover for decades to come.
A division of labor that works. Kevin handles the big-picture, behind-the-scenes work — vendor relationships, government agencies, and long-term projects like equipment upgrades — while Nicholas manages daily operations, from stocking to staffing. It's a partnership built on complementary strengths.
No pressure on the next generation. With four young children of his own, Kevin said he won't push them toward the business any more than his father pushed him — the same open-ended approach that eventually brought him home.