ESTEVAN - Customers who walk into the newly renovated M&M Food Market in Estevan will be greeted by a renovated business and by new owners.
Marcy Kuntz and her husband Murray acquired the store last month, and have been operating it with their son and one of their daughters, making it a family-run operation. The business also has part-time employees.
Marcy Kuntz spent 20 years working for a company, but it went through a structural change. She decided she wanted to be her own boss, so she looked at franchises and saw that M&M Food Market was looking for a new owner for its Estevan store. Since it was already established in the community, she decided it would be a good fit.
And since their first names are Marcy and Murray, M&M was even more appealing.
It’s been a busy start for the new local owners. There were the renovations that needed to happen as part of a change that’s happening at all of the stores.
“It’s a whole new look. It’s brighter. It’s open,” said Kuntz. “You don’t have to have someone wait on you now. You can actually shop the store yourself, like a regular grocery store. You can see all that M&M offers, all the food, and the store flows like a regular meal, from appetizers all the way over to desserts. Every little detail of a meal is included with the way the store flows.”
It feels like a more conventional grocery store than it did previously, when so much merchandise was in freezers behind the counter.
When Kuntz entered a renovated store in Calgary, she could see all that M&M has to offer. She didn’t know about all of those products at the time. A self-described “flyer shopper,” she would enter the store with the flyer that runs in the Mercury and look for what was on sale.
“I saw everything that was there and I’ve been trying the food, and they have Real Food for Real Life,” said Kuntz, echoing the company’s slogan.
She’s particularly proud of the absence of artificial colours, flavours and sweeteners in the food, and there are gluten-free options.
M&M Food Market has been in Estevan for over a decade.
“Everybody knows where it is. Everybody knows about M&M. Everybody’s surprised when they come into the store to see the changes and everybody is loving it. I’m hoping with this it keeps the regular, loyal customers coming back and brings in more.”
Kuntz believes her background as a purchaser, a branch manager and a business owner will help her out as she runs her own business.
“Between training, talking to head office people and going to a store in Calgary and training with them, and now being in the store, I’m excited. It’s great and I’m loving it,” she said.
A grand reopening was held from Nov. 4-7. A number of deals were offered, and it was also a chance to show off the renovation.
Kuntz and her husband grew up in Estevan. They spent most of their adult life in Alberta, but came into Estevan during the boom, and now they’re looking forward to the challenge of taking on something new.
