Mike’s Discount Foods is moving in

In August, Molter’s Fresh Market announced that it would be ceasing business in Montgomery and would be out of the building by the end of Sept. 30, making it the second time the town was faced with having no grocery store. It was just a year prior that Mackenthun’s Fine Foods pulled their grocery business out of town.

People were surprised that the doors to Molters were already locked and with carts of free items outside the doors on Thursday, Sept. 26, which was a few days earlier than stated that they would close. Many were left wondering the future of the location.

It is now confirmed that Mike’s Discount Foods is now coming to fill that void. “The rumor is true,” said Tony Oelmann, general manager for Mike’s Discount Foods. “It’s been months and months of planning.”

The company had initially wanted to purchase the building but that didn’t necessarily work out. Family friend Michael Benzinger and current owner of Luxury Auto Sales, which moved into the old hardware store on Oak Avenue in 2023, got involved and bought the building. Mike’s Discount Foods is renting the space from him on a 10-year lease.

According to Oelmann, the store is more than just outdated or close-to-date foods. “Besides food and produce we have cleaning supplies, automotive, over-the-counter medication, clothing, extension cords, and more,” says Oelmann. “The main focus of the business is everything about grocery, dry goods to health care, and from dairy to cheese. Our inventory changes throughout the day. The only thing that is constant are eggs, which we have an Amish supplier from Wisconsin, and bread, which is supplied by Country Hearth.”

Their inventory comes from a variety of sources, such as collections, insurance claims, overstock, discontinued items, end-of-season items left unsold at retailers, and rejected lots. “A grocery store might get a pallet of strawberries, for instance, that might have four cartons that have mold on them, but the greater pallet is perfectly fine. We repackage those and removed the bad product,” says Oelmann. These are bought at a discount and that discount is passed onto the customer.

Getting enough product to stock their stores is not an issue. “We have people knocking on our door,” said Co-Owner Nick Abernathy. “With over 30 years in the business, people know us.”

“The reason we started this was to help communities that can’t afford to eat healthy, and those that can’t afford grocery store prices,” says Oelmann. He also says that people will see a lot more fresh produce than what they are used to from the previous grocery store — both in variety and quantity. A couple things that you will not see are...

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...Nick was on hand already Monday evening to check out the situation and was back Tuesday morning as crews started patching, sealing and coating the parking lot, along with another crew busy installing the new point-of-sale systems in the building. He says that next week the store will be getting a new coat of paint, and, over the next days, he is also having all refrigeration systems looked at and fixed with whatever they need.

Co-Owner and Founder Mike Abernathy discussed the possibility of having a value-added meal option where the deli area stands, although he has not confirmed that is happening yet for sure. He did say that they are trying to figure out a way for that to work. “The manager of Frandsen Bank & Trust mentioned to us that that would be something the community would like and we also noticed there was a lack of quick food options in the town,” said Mike.

All three gentleman were very excited about the store and this location. “We feel we will do well here,” said Oelmann. “When we open, we will be the hype of the town. We get people that come from Fargo and Sioux Falls that come to our store in Fridley. It will bring a lot of people to town.” Nick said, “We’ve never opened a store that didn’t work.”

The company does not have a loyalty program because their inventory changes so much. However, it does offer a 10% discount to all shoppers every Tuesday. The discount started as a deal for seniors only but once COVID hit they decided to open it up to all shoppers.

“The business is family owned, so we grew up with the people who shop in our stores.” said Oelmann. “We obviously look after our customers more than anything.” Nick said, “We aren’t like some other businesses who put something out there just to see if we can sell it. We don’t sell bad product. We buy the same things we sell ourselves.”

Employees of the late Molter’s store are encouraged to reapply. Oelmann said that we will consider anyone who previously worked at that location but that they will go through the normal procedure of applying. He described the jobs as not being like a typical grocery store because it is more fast-paced and busy throughout the whole day.

They plan on having ribbon cutting and will announce in the coming days an exact opening date.