History

In 1949 R.K. Dickens Sr. established a vending company known as the St. Joseph Tobacco Company. The original location for the business was in the heart of downtown St. Joseph , Missouri (in a four-story building next to what is now the Commerce Bank). In 1951 the business relocated to another downtown location where the Civic Arena now stands.

The business began to expand and diversify and a bigger facility was needed. In 1969 a new building was constructed on the North Belt Highway. The new building included a catalog show room, vending business, and wholesale distribution center. Over the years, St. Joseph Tobacco Company sold the vending portion of the business and discontinued the catalog show room operations to concentrate solely on convenience store wholesale distribution.

In 1980, R. K. Dickens Jr. took over as the president of St. Joseph Tobacco Company. During his years as president, he lead the company's transition into convenience store distributing. After the passing of R.K. Dickens Jr. in 1997, his son, Brian Dickens assumed the role of president of the company.

By 1999 the company was experiencing tremendous growth. With the growth, the business name, itself, no longer fit. The name was changed to Saint Joe Distributing which was an appropriate fit since the emphasis of the business had shifted from tobacco to total convenience store service. A new specialized building was also needed and plans were drawn up to create a "state of the art" distribution center in the Mitchell Woods Industrial Park .

In April of 2001 the move was made to our present facility. This new facility will not only allow us to grow and expand, but meet future needs of our customers.