Main Street Market in Milford had its groundbreaking ceremony June 11 despite work having already begun to celebrate the start of construction on the new location of Main Street Market.
“Today was a great day for the groundbreaking ceremony of Main Street Market,” said Jonathan Jank, president and CEO for the Seward County Chamber and Development Partnership. “When we’ve talked about how we grow a rural community in general in a sustainable way that becomes a place where people want to stay and grow their families and a place that people are attracted to want to live and grow, a grocery store is a key piece of that puzzle.”
Craig Bontrager and his wife, Karen, owners of Main Street Market, have thought about owning a deli for quite some time.
“Our daughter, Celia, had worked at the store for the previous owners, and I just kept thinking, ‘boy it would be fun to have that,’” Craig said.
When Main Street Market went up for sale, they decided that the time was right.
“One day Celia came home and said ‘I think they want to sell it,’ and so I called (the owner) up almost that minute and he said ‘we figured you’d be calling,’” Craig said.
After years of community support and success, the Bontragers decided that it was time to move and create a bigger location, which was brought about following a fire at the former Subway Motors location.
“We have a vision for additional kitchen space and to do take and bakes and we do not have enough space at our current location.” Karen said.
The community support for the store cannot be understated with dozens of people showing up for the ceremony.
“Their support has been awesome. It’s not just the Milford community, it’s Seward, Friend, Dorchester, Crete, we have people from Lincoln and Omaha, Hastings, Grand Island, Malcolm and we really appreciate every customer that we see.” Karen said.
The Bontragers are hopeful that they can be moved in about four months.
“There’s a window from October first until Thanksgiving where we would have to move in, if things go well we think we can hit that,” Craig said.
The current Main Street Market at 102 N. Walnut Ave. will remain open during the duration of the construction.
