Anchors of Bridger Valley - Benedict Trading Company

Grab your favorite beverage, settle in, and join us for an enlightening conversation about the vital role that Benedict's Grocers and Ace Hardware play in shaping the fabric of Bridger Valley.  Beyond just being stores, they're community hubs where friendships are forged, local economies are supported, and the spirit of Bridger Valley is celebrated. Without these beloved establishments, life in the valley would undoubtedly be more challenging for residents. Whether you're a longtime local or simply curious about the magic of small-town living, this episode offers a glimpse into the heart and soul of Wyoming's charming rural communities. 

Transcript

 This transcript was generated using speech-to-text technology. The accuracy may vary in spots.

Authentic Wyoming with Bruce Benedict ~ published March 14, 2024
Hi, I'm Myra. And I'm Tressa. We are fancy marketing people with Union. A Wyoming-based telecommunication company. Yes, Wyoming really does exist. We proudly serve the Rocky Mountain region. On this podcast, we will feature businesses, organizations, non-profits, and influential people from Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming.

Our mission is to highlight those who inspire their communities daily. We believe this makes us truly authentic because a journey of a thousand miles always begins with a single step.

Hey, Myra. Hey, Tressa. How are you? Good. I don't know why I giggle like it's so funny, but yeah, my hello is like it just sits me next level that I have to giggle a little bit to get. It should be a comedian. I think so. Just say hello and make people laugh. You? Yeah. You'd win that when you're all stand up would just be.

Hello. Hello. For an hour on repeat. Quick, Buck. Yeah. I care a lot about Sure. Being an entrepreneur. I love it. It's a new adventure. A new adventure? Forget healing and helping people and helping people. I'll just go. Just go make people laugh. I mean, it's also therapeutic. Very therapeutic. Laughing is good. Yeah. So how was your weekend?

It was good. Part of my Olympic sport superpower is extreme nesting where I just remodel my whole house every time I'm expecting a child. Like, I don't know. You know, I did a whole bathroom demo. Renault supplied base hardware. Now, I've also kept Ace Hardware in business again for my bookshelves. Yeah, we we, we buy local. We do.

It's really expensive sometimes. Sorry, but you'll see what I'm talking about in a minute here. But yeah, no, we do. We do. And we're really grateful though to have this is just a natural progression. But really honestly, we are grateful to have a local hardware store because one, I prefer my paint coming from Ace. I love the Benjamin Moore paint.

I hate all the other paint, so I frequent that a lot. And then, yeah, we build our shelves and got our wood and our supplies and our trim. And we did it all on a holiday weekend and didn't have to worry about. Yeah. Going anyway. Going anywhere. you're supplies. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So. Well, good. Thanks.

Good job. Yeah. So. Yes. So now I have a library and. Yeah, all good things. Good things. Good things. Yeah. I don't love to paint, but I'm grateful for Ace Also. We've had several times we've had our water heater go out or whatever, and we can run down and get one locally, Right. To fix it. And then we remodeled it last summer year before I think it was.

Yeah, we did. We did buy all of our paint and everything from Ace. I reluctantly helped. Yeah. I know. I just have never enjoyed painting. I don't love it. So, like, my hands are already swelling, like, naturally, although, you know, and I'm sitting there with the brush, like, ready to pry it open, you know, and Blake's over here, like, man, this paint job's really good.

 And like, Yeah, I know. You know, I'm just over here, like, about to go into labor, like, rolling and squatting and jumping up and down and, yeah, it was a lot. So, yeah, I'm like, So is your nesting done? The remodeling done. Yeah, But now it to do the kitchen next. Now shoo. I wish they had quartz countertops.

We'd probably be doing it next week, but no, my next phase is the extreme sport of throwing everything away. I've been doing that. Yeah. So, no, I went somewhere and a lot of things are gone from her room that she does it now. So this will start happening. Like clothes will disappear. My clothes, the dog stuff, everything that makes the dog the husband, everybody will just start disappearing.

 Yeah, that's my next phase is just. Yeah. Trash bags, throwing everything away. Yeah, I went through I have to dress dressers because I like clothes, but I went through one whole dresser and cleaned out and I think two trash bags full of stuff that I hadn't used in years. It was very therapeutic. I love it. You know, it's kind of it's so interesting because I think I have like, this is part of my my trauma those and and I hold sentimental value and objects and I think it's because I didn't grow up with a ton of things or the things that I'm grateful for what I had.

 But I'm working hard and earning money and buying the things I want is something that I used to be as a child and now as an adult. I can do those things and my life's very, very different than what my life was growing up. And I have more. I'm very lucky and I'm blessed and, you know, all those good things.

 So I think I hold sentimental value on objects and it's like, I worked really hard and I bought this. Can I throw it away or what? You know, I'm starting to break free from that. And I think part of that is clearing it out, like, why did I buy it in the first place? That has to be donated.

 Is this really necessary? And so it's changing my habits. Now. I don't need to buy all these things to fulfill a need that doesn't exist. Yeah, know that makes sense. Getting rid of the old and bringing in new things that are only useful. Yeah. That you really. Yeah, I agree with that. I could see that. Yeah, I think.

 Yeah. I didn't have a lot growing up either. It was always tight. Money was always tight. So I think sometimes that's why I hold on to things. I've gotten a lot better. My husband, he's called me a hoarder. He can't do that anymore. But this dresser was like that, right? It was kind of a symbol of that. Like, Yeah, I didn't need a lot of these things.

 They were they weren't donated, but they were old, you know? And so just it felt good to, to be able to really start. So. Yeah. So yeah, I'm here with you. Yeah, I'm with you. It's nice because then you're clear now energy to welcome in new thing new stuff. Yeah. Good. So I think I know there's there's a lot of scientific things behind testing but I think like a therapeutic healing side of it as you're clearing out the space to welcome the new I mean like birds, they go and bring in all these things and they get it already, you know?

 Yeah, I'm just a bird, I guess. Here you are. Here I am. Maya. The bird, not the bird. But yeah. So today on our episode, we have Bruce Benedict with Benedict Trading Company. Hello, Bruce. Hi, guys. Thank you for the opportunity to be here. Yeah, Welcome. We're glad that you haven't run away. Yeah, I'm. I'm okay. I'm good for 15 more minutes.

 Okay. We know where you live. You can. We can easily find you. Sure. I live a days. Yeah, Yeah, I know. We know exactly where I guess so. Do you want to just kind of tell us about your family legacy and how they got in? They started originally with grocery store right here. Our grandfather moved here in, probably 1936 or so.

 And he he fell in love with my grandmother, who was raised in an agricultural environment. And they, he went to work for his uncle, who was, named Harry Ackerman. The, the grocery store business. Then that time was called Ackerman Trading, which he had ran up for. He'd owned it Uncle Harry owned, I believe, about ten or 15 years prior to Grandpa on in 1938.

 Grandpa, Uncle Harry decided it was time for him to retire, and he gave Grandpa the opportunity to buy the business at that time. And 85, 86 years later, here we are, for third generation with some fourth generation children working in the businesses and third generation owners. Our parents both ran it and owned it so that my grandparents could retire.

 And we're just going down that same, same avenue with with the future. Hopefully that's great. I didn't realize there's fourth generation already. Time Yeah, that's really cool. I didn't realize that. Yeah. Fourth while fourth generation would be if we we added Harry in there as, as an uncle as family. But yeah Benedict's wise it's three generations. Yeah. Yeah.

 Awesome. And you're doing well in the third generation. We're we're very happy. We're very fortunate. We're fortunate to be in a community that supports us. Well, and are appreciative of having the, the things that we've tried to, to maintain and create, you know, the original footprint of the grocery store was a ten foot wide building with 20 foot tall walls and a ladder that went on rollers, and you went up and down the ladder and slid the thing to the rollers and traded a can of pork and beans for a dozen eggs.

 When the eggs had the the chickens had their eggs. And we still have the original box and and documents that they used to do the trading for food. You know, people would trade for milk from their milk cow for bread or or whatever it may be. But it's it's quite interesting to go back to 1938 and look at the the data that that the recording of the paperwork that they have from the from keeping track of all that.

 So to to to to where we are today. Now everything's computerized and and it's much, much more simple to operate. Yeah that's so crazy because you know you just installed self-checkout was it last year that. Yeah last year self-checkout and and I was I was reluctant with that we did that and my brother he he pretty much stays at the grocery store side of it now that we have two buildings and he was pretty adamant about it.

 That was the way of the the trend of the of the industry and everywhere else you go. I was a little more apprehensive and but the first day we did self-checkout, we did 700 transactions through self-checkout. Wow. So obviously there was need in our community. They're not people. Yeah. No. Yeah. No, they, they want, they want that option in that format.

 Not so much in the hardware industry. It's still more of a hands on customer interaction made there just because of the, the different needs. Yeah. Yeah. So talking about the grocery store side, for those in the center land who are not familiar with rural communities, really rural communities, we're about how far from another grocery store, 35 miles.

Okay, So and then you add in bad weather. Winters are hard. Hard, real hard. Or you just add in panic or scarcity or. I need an item right now, the luxuries of this. So thinking about all of those things, living here in a community like this, the convenience of having some a store locally, I mean, now we have cars.

 Back then, cars weren't everybody wasn't driving around, you know, when the need was originally being fulfilled. But could you talk about like how that drove the family or the company to continue to have the grocery store here or to bring a grocery store to the community? And they just the expansion and growth of it? Well, no, but Benedict trading has seen the need through time to you know, our our philosophy has always been give back to the community that supports and gives to you.

 Whether you do that through donations, whether you do that through supporting children, whatever it may be. But there's also always been a need to give the people the opportunity that they could get in another atmosphere, say, say, 35 miles away, they can go to a Wal Mart or a Smiths, which we we know we have to compete with.

 So in order to be competitive and provide the customer what they need, we have to provide a similar format or try to be a better format, but still maintain that hometown want, need convenience. But at the end of the day, in the grocery industry and pricing, we're very fortunate to have a wholesaler that keeps us competitive, to be able to provide that.

 But our families always believed in putting back in and we've, we've done remodels about every 10 to 15 years through time. And I think that's that's been a great benefit to keeping a fresh look grocery store for our community. As the communities grow, the grocery store needs to grow. We need more room, we need more stuff we need and we need to try to provide that atmosphere that they see other places.

 Yeah. Yeah, it's beautiful. Your store's beautiful. The very last remodel was wonderful. You talked about, like, how important it is to connect to communities and you guys do a lot in the community. Do you have any, like, strategies that you use to connect to the local residents here? I think the biggest thing is, you know, our family's been here for so long that we know a lot of people in the community and and it's a great community.

 We're like I say, we're blessed. But, you know, the biggest strategy is, is just trying to to seek out those things that are needing help. You know, it's hard to split up a pie too many directions, but you just try to do everything you can to do that. We've we've had to go. We used to go I mean, if if a kid was doing something on an individual basis, we would try to help any way we can, which we still do.

 But as communities grown, we've had to look at organizations or school functions or clubs or or whatever it may be to try and spread those dollars further out, you know, throughout the community. But, you know, just trying to be a part of it and being a good ear in the community, you can hear a lot if you just listen and sometimes you hear things that people need that they don't ever think you're going to be able to help them.

 But just by listening. Yeah, so true. Yeah, I love that. I think one that's very relatable to what happens here at Union being a similar type of organization and trying to invest back into our communities. And how do you reach the masses without being so individual but also still making an individual difference? There's ways to navigate that. And so I love that wisdom and the thought process there.

 I think so to talking about investing in our communities and investing a grocery store is a business, but at the end of the day, the best business that you could invest in for a community because the needs are there, the wants are there. Without it, people would feel it. For those out there. I mean, I go to Benedicts just for my lunch.

 The deli supplies the community in other ways than just a normal deli would, in my opinion. Like I grew up in a community where there grocery stores on every corner and I was able to just go get wedges for dinner, you know, because I really wanted wedges and I didn't want to cook a lot. Now I might be busy at work and I can walk over, I can go and grab food.

 There's a lot of high school students that come. They can eat lunch. So, I mean, it's not just adults. I mean, it's others ranging in different age. And so just to have that as a we don't have a lot of restaurants. And so having that as another option, I think makes a huge difference to in the community because, you know, I'm not only buying my groceries to make a dinner later, I might also come in and grab something to breakfast or I might want to come grab some bomb chicken tenders if they're really good, or when I was addicted to orange chicken, you know, I went there almost every day like it was a little obsessive, you know, and she had to have an intervention. Yeah, it was bad. It was real bad. It is good. It was good. Yeah. So just that alone, I think, is such a huge thing for our community because we don't have like I said, we don't have a ton of restaurants and it's really difficult for a lot of businesses to flourish in a rural community.

 And so having that as another option, I think it's really incredible. Sure. Well, and that was kind of, you know, as Teressa mentioned, we we went through a remodel about three years ago coming on for, but during that remodel, we, you know, we were just doing a grant updating grocery, We were trying to make make things better for everybody, more variety, more everything.

 And in the middle of that process, unfortunately, you know, our community started to realize that they were going to lose a business, that that was very appreciated in the community and needed in the community. But under the circumstances, they they ended up closing on a national level. But it created an opportunity in our business as well. And in our community.

 And and we seen the opportunity and was able to then split up our hardware and our grocery, which used to all be in the one building, expand that out and keep a fairly large building in our community from being dark and then went ahead and went forward with the Ace Hardware, which has been a home run for our community tremendously as well as us.

 It's been a great, great investment and a great opportunity. But to to see those things and be able to have the ability because your community has supported you and then turn and give back and say, Hey, we need a bigger hardware store, we need more hardware in our community. And I can't tell you how many times since we've done that, the appreciation.

 And at that time there was concern in the community, too, as to whether there would be a place for pharmaceuticals, because at that time that business was the only place for pharmacy in our community. And so we were able to partner and and do some space for another company to come in and lease that space to put in a pharmacy because there was so much uncertainty as to whether there would even be one.

 But, you know, all of that's just part of looking into it. And, you know, I, I think my grandfather and my grandmother and my parents and and I got to say, union telephones. Howard, Howard, what body for inspiring us as a young man. My brother and I, especially in the absence of our family members, to to see those things and see those needs and give back to your community through providing them more and better opportunities.

 Yeah, I know. I for one, Bruce is referring to we had Shopko here and they nationally went out of business, right? And that's where our pharmacy was. I was worried because, you know, we get prescriptions monthly, you know, do I have to drive to Evanston now to get that right? But also that building, you know, once we found out that you were putting it in there, I was really appreciative that this fairly large, substantial part of our community was going to be filled with something.

 So it was really beautiful to see that growth for you guys and all the things I love patio furniture. So yeah, I'm always in there for that too. But yeah, all the additional things that came with that, right? Not just the hardware but the additional stuff, you know, you can go buy a barbecue or down there if you need one or you know, me and my patio furniture addiction, solar lights.

 I love solar lights and they're barn bird feeders. So. So, yeah. So what is this life? I don't know what ages it's called. The helpful thing. You know it is It's a dangerous place. Yeah. I don't know. I like I was talking about earlier in the episode, I mean, here's an example by Heater went out and we got the part we needed, but they gave us I am not a electrical person here, but the the sister.

 They gave us two systems to connect the wires and we needed to mother a brother or something. I don't know, that's a little weird, but you know what I'm talking about. People. male and female. maybe that. I think that's not a sister. Wow. Really dark. Any who we needed. We had the female part. We needed the male part.

 Sure. And or we just needed something to connect the wires. For example, it's been like 11 degrees here. Yeah. And I have a woodstove and I have a gas fire, so I mean, we've been okay, but just knowing that we had the part and then my husband could go somewhere within 5 minutes, pick up my daughter across the street, run over and grab the part and come home.

 And we had heat last night. That's a huge like it's a I'm using the word blessings. But really, though, I mean, it's I took the stuff for granted when I lived in a larger community. In the community I lived in really isn't that large, but we just had more things that were easily accessible to us in a driving distance.

 So I don't know what my life would be like not having any hardware here or having a grocery store or having pharmacy because we are normal people. People in rural communities are like everybody else and we have needs and wants and we have things that we want to do and the conveniences that the Benedict Company has provided for this community is beyond anything that I could ever ask for. I mean, I could I could take them all, but, you know, I don't need it. My wallet does it need a mall? But I just like it's fun, like some Saturdays we just go down and hang out of this for a minute. Or like I said, Blake's a frequent flier. And one day they told him they're like, Man, I think you work here because he was there so much.

 And but what's so cool, It's not even the fact that we have these facilities and the resources here in our community. It's the friendliness of the staff. It's the friendliness of you And Jim. I know, Blake, you've helped Blake before, just and it's you just walk over and you see someone standing there and you're like, Hey, what part do you need?

 Or do you need this bit? Or the screw? I don't know. And you're able to help guide them that it feels like a community. So it's not like, here's this place I go to. So you keep the hometown feel even though it's at a national scale. And that's, that's very important and we've always felt that, you know when I see people visiting in the store or you know, blocking aisles, just having a visit or whatever, I look at it and I just smile because it tells me it's a comfortable environment.

 Whereas you see some people going in to a grocery store or a hardware store, it's hustle and bustle and nobody speaks to anybody, nobody knows anybody. That's that's one of the great things of our community that that we're able to have that one on one with most of our customers and do that. You know, as you were saying that, you know, to be the Benedict family has provided those things.

 You know, I want to rephrase that a little bit. The only way or reason that we've been able to provide that is because of community support. And I know people get it told to them often, you know, you need to support small businesses and yada, yada, yada. But and that's not what I'm trying to say. But there's a there's a product of your support that's that's the willingness and our ability to be able to grow to our community's needs because of support from the community dollars that are spent in their community typically get reinvested in your community.

 So community support for small businesses, we've got to take care of our own. And, you know, we're very, very fortunate, like I said, with Associated Foods on the grocery side, whereas when we when we did shift over and take over the new format for the hardware store, we was able to get with ACE, which is a national and international company, currently pushing 5500 stores.

 But they have a program for rural setting and their program, amazingly for rural setting, is no different than it is for urban big city communities. But they have a value for customer service. And and so it was a perfect fit for us to to partner up with them as our wholesaler and our business side. But the community, you know, the community deserves what has happened.

 And we're we're just fortunate that we've been able to do it with their support. I hear what you're saying about like the community you're the community has to support your business in order for you to be successful and allow these things for us. Same thing with Union telephone, right? Any of these smaller businesses or local businesses in the state, It is important that we try to support each other, but also like you're providing employment opportunities, right, and career opportunities for people.

 How many people between the two businesses do you guys employ? We average depending on time of year, but pretty consistent push in 80. Between the two between the two buildings. That's a lot. That really is a lot. And I would just never guess that he works there. Jamie If you listen anywhere from 70 to 85, it just depends on the time of year.

 Well, you know, certain times we have to have more people. So like seasonally you have to like pickup because it's summertime, we ramp up more. You know, believe it or not, the grocery store takes a lot of people to operate all the prep, all the things. You know, it's it's a very labor intensive, environment. So, yeah, you know, in a we, we have about 15 over there typically.

 So that kind of gives you a break down between the two stores. But yeah, that's a, that's a lot. And, and as you say, union unions always stepped up and I mean between us too I we're, we're providing a lot of employment in the community. Yeah we really are. I don't think people think about that sometimes I agree and I understand it.

 I get it. This is a call out on others, but it's when you're in your own sphere, you see what you want to see and you feel what you want to feel. But when you really take a step back and you look at our communities and you look at what these businesses are providing, forget the services. You know, the services are necessities.

 But at the same time, you look at the employment, you look at the career growth. I'm here only because of this position that I'm in with the union. I would not live in this community otherwise. And so you bring in families, you bring in diversity, you bring in more people to continue to support other people like you can support the beauticians, You can support the coffee, the coffee shop.

 Yeah, you can support the new salad place. You know what I mean? Exactly. Like, these things can happen and people can be passionate and live where they want to live because of the core businesses that are providing employment and growth opportunities for people to move here. This is why our housing market is the way it is. This is why people still live in this place with the winter being the way it is, you know, and it's good opportunities.

 It's not run of the mill like I know people personally who want to relocate here because they've seen the way my life has been changed and impacted by the services and the growth opportunities by my job, by my wife, by my the culture that I'm in. And they're like, wow, I want to experience that. And who in the world would think I want to come live in this little town in Wyoming?

 You know? Sure. Well, and the value of the cultures, as you say, is it's huge. You won't be able to to live in this community and have the friendships in the community that you can have. And and, you know, and and we do have a lot of great small businesses. We do have a lot of a lot of people that that have invested, you know, whether it's a little or whether it's a lot to create an environment of shopping or food or or entertainment or whatever it may be in our community.

 And and it is an important thing. You know, small, small business in small communities is a big part of Wyoming. And and the culture that we as Wyoming residents are used to, especially me. I've lived here all my life, but I don't understand anything different. I did leave for a while and yeah, the city is great, but once you get back that culture and those values, it's it's pretty amazing.

 You know, I think it's hard to be. I agree with you visiting the cities. Perfect. But living there for me is not ideal. Yeah. This thing is hanging in your rearview mirror. Yeah, it's crazy. I mean, I wanted so badly to not live in a rural community, and then we left for a little bit. And then I so badly tried to come back, so I know exactly what you're talking about.

 I mean, once you've experienced that, you kind of can't let it go, you know? I mean, I saw a little brother bicycling his siblings on a sled down my street. I mean, I looked and thought and watching a Hallmark movie, you know, you've been hit by somebody if you did that. Where I grew up, you know, like a car would, it took you out.

 And here I gather there's a busy street, but nobody is. They knew they were safe enough. They knew they were comfortable. And to see some the joy and the pure, you don't get to see that, you know. No. Yeah. Everywhere for sure. Yeah. Yeah. We're lucky. Yeah, I'm lucky. Well, yeah, I think it's probably time to wrap up.

 We appreciate your time today, Bruce. Is there any thing that we haven't covered that you maybe. Well, no. I appreciate the opportunity to share our. Our story. It's. It's pretty cool and we're pretty proud of it, But we're blessed to be where we're at and and blessed to be in the community we're doing it in. So thank you guys for having us Or May and Benedek trading as part of your podcast.

 Yeah. Well before you go, we've been asking everyone how do you stay authentic by wearing your roots and gear? How do I stay authentic? I think. I think I just try to stick to the the values I was taught as a young person by by the folks that kind of taught me everything I know. And I think it authentic authenticity that makes you authentic.

Sorry, speak, but that's how we've stayed authentic. And we've we've tried to just keep those core values and teach them and have our employees use those core values. And it just makes you what you are. Awesome. 

Well, until next time, stay authentic.