{"id":14390,"date":"2026-10-07T13:23:03","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T21:23:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rangeme.com\/blog\/?p=14390"},"modified":"2026-10-07T13:23:30","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T21:23:30","slug":"how-storage-theory-landed-its-hy-vee-deal-in-just-three-months","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rangeme.com\/blog\/how-storage-theory-landed-its-hy-vee-deal-in-just-three-months\/","title":{"rendered":"How Storage Theory Landed Its Hy-Vee Deal in Just Three Months"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s rare for a brand to be picked up by a retailer just three months after the retailer\u2019s buyers first laid eyes on its products, but that\u2019s just what happened for Storage Theory<\/a>, a Monticello, Iowa-based manufacturer of innovative home organization products run by CEO & Owner Liz Garcia with Midwest grocery chain Hy-Vee<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within just three months from Garcia\u2019s RangeMe Immediate Opportunity submission for Hy-Vee\u2019s Opportunity Summit<\/a> (one of more than 1,200), her brand was approved for an initial virtual meeting with Hy-Vee buyers, which resulted in an invite to the Summit, where she pitched Hy-Vee buyers and execs in-person and landed a spot in the retailer\u2019s warehouse. Storage Theory was the only general merchandise brand to earn a coveted Hy-Vee Smile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had the chance to chat with Garcia \u2013 who is an engaging bundle of energy, by the way! \u2013 and learn the story behind the brand as well as her recent RangeMe Immediate Opportunity<\/a> experiences, both with the Hy-Vee Opportunity Summit as well as her recent meeting with buyers from Lowe\u2019s at ECRM\u2019s General Merchandise Sessions<\/a>. You can watch our full video interview below!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Garcia\u2019s Path to Entrepreneurship: Turning \u2018One Day\u2019 Into \u2018Now\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Behind every high-growth consumer brand lies a pivotal moment that redefines risk tolerance. For Liz Garcia, that moment came not in a corporate boardroom, but in a physician\u2019s office in 2021. At the time, Garcia possessed a rich career background spanning graphic design, hospitality, and corporate publishing sales \u2013 skills that honed her ability to connect with people and close deals. Yet, entrepreneurship remained a distant goal.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Garcia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In 2021, while seven months pregnant with their son Luca, Garcia’s husband received a diagnosis of stage one testicular cancer. Following surgery and an elective round of chemotherapy to prevent recurrence, he achieved full remission in February 2022. While terrifying, the ordeal fundamentally shifted the couple\u2019s perspective on career timelines and personal ambitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It woke us the hell up that life is way too damn short not to be chasing the things that light you up,” Garcia recalls. “What used to be a pipe dream for us of the quote ‘one day’ \u2013 like I’ll start a business one day, whether it’s five years from now \u2013 that was kind of our mentality back then. And when going through this cancer diagnosis, it totally flipped the script on us. What once used to be that pipe dream, it turned into asking ourselves, ‘Well, what can we do today to make this happen?'”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Driven by newfound urgency, Garcia launched her own podcast, The Liz Garcia Show<\/a>, just two months after her husband was declared cancer-free. Together, the couple co-founded GW Spice Co.<\/a>, a fundraising dip and seasoning company that remains active today. By July 2024, searching for an established platform with high growth potential, Garcia\u2019s husband came across a local listing while searching for Iowa-based businesses for sale. That discovery led to negotiations and the acquisition of Storage Theory \u2013 a housewares manufacturing company based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Solving Everyday Chaos: The Storage Theory Product Philosophy<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Originally founded by an Iowa engineer seeking practical home organization solutions for his own family, Storage Theory addresses everyday household clutter through utility-driven design, focusing on transforming underutilized residential space into functional organization zones.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Garcia\u2019s personal favorite and the brand’s hero SKU is the Power Perch Outlet Shelf, an innovative wall plate modification that mounts directly over standard electrical outlets to create immediate storage real estate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The outlet shelf has been a godsend for our marriage because before, our bathroom would be a disaster with everything on the counter,” Garcia says. “That way we actually have two of our outlet shelves in our bathroom to hold all of my makeup and stuff, and then it holds our Alexa home on the other side. When you install two of them in your home, you’ll start to scan the other rooms in your house and ask yourself, ‘Where else can I declutter this space?'”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The brand\u2019s secondary bestseller is a specialized holder for Scrub Daddy sponges that uses suction to affix directly to the interior wall of kitchen sinks, keeping sponges clean, elevated, and dry. Anchored by the central catchphrase to “let us help you declutter the chaos in your life,” Storage Theory built early momentum across digital channels \u2013 including Amazon, Walmart.com, and TikTok Shop \u2013 before setting its sights squarely on major brick-and-mortar retail expansion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 3-Month Blueprint: Landing the Hy-Vee Retail Deal via RangeMe Immediate Opportunities<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While many digital-native brands spend years attempting to capture the attention of buyers from large retail chains, Storage Theory secured distribution across one of the Midwest’s most dominant grocery chains in just three months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hy-Vee, an employee-owned supermarket chain operating more than 300 stores across nine Midwestern states, maintains a unique store-director autonomy model. While individual store directors hold the authority to select localized inventory, gaining access to the regional Lomar warehouse system enables centralized bulk purchasing orders across all locations simultaneously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Summit Experience\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Storage Theory had maintained a basic, free account on RangeMe for roughly a year. In June 2026, after consulting with RangeMe representatives, Garcia upgraded the company to RangeMe Premium, gaining access to Immediate Opportunity submissions and the RangeMe Verified badge (Note: Starter subscribers can also participate in RangeMe Immediate Opportunities).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In July 2026, Garcia submitted Storage Theory for Hy-Vee’s Opportunity Summit \u2013 a competitive vendor pitch event designed to help Hy-Vee buyers discover innovative new products. She was approved to move forward with a virtual pitch to Hy-Vee buyers the following month. Following the virtual pitch, she was invited to meet with the buyers in person at the Opportunity Summit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It really was only a matter of weeks of us signing up for Premium to land the chance of attending Hy-Vee’s Opportunity Summit,” Garcia says. “The RangeMe team in general was just fantastic for facilitating everything as a whole, whether it was communicating with our category manager and knowing what to expect, what to bring, how to be prepared, and how to best place ourselves in a situation where we could get that Hy-Vee smile. And luckily, we were one of the few folks that did end up walking away with a Hy-Vee smile that day.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hy-Vee Opportunity Summit combined educational buyer briefings with direct supplier pitches:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Day One (Logistical & Cultural Orientation):<\/strong> Hy-Vee leadership, store directors, and Lomar warehouse executives briefed participating founders on supply chain requirements, vendor expectations, and store-level merchandising strategies. Suppliers networked with experienced brand owners already distributed in major chains.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Day Two (The Trade Show & Category Pitches):<\/strong> An expansive pitch floor featured 85 finalist booths visited by VPs, store directors, and buyers. Each brand received a dedicated, scheduled pitch slot with their respective category manager. Storage Theory delivered its pitch at the conclusion of the day, successfully securing approval to enter Hy-Vee’s central warehousing pipeline.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Turning a 20-Minute Pitch into a Retail Gateway: The Lowe’s Sourcing Strategy<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Fresh off her success at the Hy-Vee Summit, Garcia secured a chance to pitch Lowe\u2019s<\/a> at ECRM\u2019s Home Week Sessions<\/a> from another Immediate Opportunity listed on RangeMe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Operating as a lean, two-person team alongside her husband, Garcia managed every aspect of the trip with tight fiscal discipline, keeping total travel and event costs to roughly $1,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n