By Michael Howell
After months of anticipation, punctuated by a few unanticipated delays, the doors finally opened last week to Stevensville’s new grocery store. Owner of the newly opened Burnt Fork Market, Jimmy Edwards, was raised in Stevensville. His father, Jim Sr., ran the grocery store, called Bi-Lo, in the same building on Main Street for many years. When he left, a subsequent owner re-named it Cottonwood Market but couldn’t keep it going. As a result the building sat empty for the last five years.
Jimmy followed in his dad’s footsteps, though, and started a highly successful grocery store in Missoula called the Pattee Creek Market which he still runs. Cursed with an abandoned building and having to drive outside of town for groceries, many of his old friends, seeing how successful his Missoula business was, kept asking him to come back and open a store in Stevensville once again. Jimmy, who played on Stevensville’s wrestling team as a kid, was disappointed when the program was discontinued and had a stock answer for his friends.
“I’ll come back when Stevensville gets a wrestling team,” he would tell them jokingly.
Well, Stevensville started up its wrestling program again and now it’s got a new grocery store.
“This is truly a homecoming,” said Edwards. The truth of that statement was born out in a walk around the store. He was greeted by friends that he hadn’t seen since his student days. Much older people would walk up and say, “You probably don’t remember me…” but he did. Mostly people had good things to say about what they found in the store and this obviously pleased him.
“I’ve been doing business for a long time now,” he said. “I know when people are being sincere.” He’s also pleased with the staff that he’s put together.
Plagued by a few unfortunate delays, things got a bit tense, he said, but things have mellowed out quite a bit now that the doors are open.
“This is about family and being local,” he said, “and I can’t say enough about this staff.”
Although the doors are open, there is still a lot to be done. The area dedicated to a fly fishing shop is still a construction zone. The rest of the store is looking really good even though he says it is only about 80% done.
He said he was successful in getting rid of the two ghosts in the place. He said they were friendly but they would knock things off the shelves.
“We’ve got a ways to go to work out all the quirks,” said Edwards. For instance, there was a set of lights malfunctioning in the produce department. He was disappointed about that. But he was pleased no end about the quality of the produce. He said it’s unusual to have such good produce coming in this time of year.
Edwards believes in keeping things as local as possible. He’s got local coffee beans on sale. Almost all the honey is locally produced. He’s got eggs from the nearest Hutterite colony. He made a special effort to bring in Darigold milk products because it’s local. He’s even got boxes of local firewood for sale.
The salads and soups in the deli are all homemade. Edwards is proud of his new set of bulk item bins, the Wilcoxson’s huckleberry ice cream and many other items that he pointed out while strolling through the aisles. He thinks people are going to be especially impressed with the prime rib available at the deli.
“We do a wonderful job with our own seasoning,” he said.
When it comes to wine, if you have any questions, he will be helping you personally. He’s definitely a wine connoisseur. The selection is broad but he can tell you some interesting things about each bottle and he makes excellent recommendations based on your individual preferences in taste.
“I’ve got a special batch of wine coming in soon that you won’t find anywhere else,” Edwards said. And he’s not kidding. For instance, have you ever seen blue champagne? It’s for celebrating the birth of a baby boy. There is, of course, the standard pink champagne for the girls.
The store, at the south end of Stevensville’s downtown, is open every day from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.