Front Street Market - Butte, Montana

Front Street Market – story by Polly Kolstad

     One of the coldest winter’s ever in Butte didn’t deter Jimmy and Marla Yakawich from returning home and eventually opening the Front Street Market.

     Jimmy was back for a 1989 Christmas party when his mother told him that Farmer Bill’s Market on Front Street had closed for good.  He didn’t know anything about the property, but went down and knocked on the door.  The store was full of antiques and junk, powered by one stretched extension cord from an adjacent apartment.  A single pot bellied stove supplied heat for the establishment.

     The former landscape business property peaked Jimmy’s interest.  He had visions of setting up some kind of a food business as he had worked at Jim/Bob’s in Bozeman and before that was a produce manager for Albertson’s.  He offered seventeen thousand dollars to the family of the deceased owner and sealed the deal.

     Jimmy’s ability to imagine or anticipate success is a crucial skill and one reason he is still in business twenty-three years later as the Front Street Market, Butte’s Italian Grocer, in Butte, Montana.  

     But, it wasn’t easy.

      The whole project needed “a lot of love and attention” when Jimmy came back in 1990, just in time for St. Patrick’s Day.  He gathered up his supplies, got a license from the mayor’s office, and set up an outside barbeque business for the day. 

     “It snowed all that morning, but business was good, and I made $3000 that day.  That was my last paycheck,” he verbally allows.

     The cleanup for the old building took three months.  He opened on May 18, 1990, and according to Jimmy, “there were cars all over the place.”

     Rolling up the sleeves of his denim work shirts, as he still does, Jimmy transferred his food sensibilities throughout the new store.

     “We offered cooking classes for ten dollars right here in the kitchen.”    

      He did a lot of catering which allowed him to expand.

     “We did Lonesome Dove, fed all the actors, and sold all the antiques in the basement to them.”

     Today, the Front Street Market continues to integrate catering well into their business.  They make ten to fifteen salads, four chafers, dipped strawberries, shrimp, salmon, cheeses, and cold cuts. Renown in Butte, they used to make and sell one hundred pasties daily, but were overwhelmed with the demand and couldn’t keep up. 

     In 1997, they built on to the back end of the store for a wine shop which features over 1000 bottles of domestic and imported wines.  Trek downstairs, and you find the cellar for the 165 wine club members who receive two bottles of wine each month.  In the late nineties, they also added a deli which heightens the store’s momentum for hungry lunch time crowds seeking hot corned beef, real turkey, tuna melts, meatloaf, and Italian meat sandwiches.  Bread used in the sandwiches is from frozen sourdough baguettes from California and Italian bread from Spokane.  They also serve two kinds of gourmet soups daily (year round 150 different soups).  Marla makes the soups and salads in the deli.  Their $4.50 lunch includes soup, Italian bread, and a freshly baked cookie.   The $6.50 lunch includes sandwich, soup, or salad, cookie, and a drink.  

       “We keep it simple,” says Jimmy as he shares the famous Front Street Gorgonzola Dip that started out as a sandwich spread (Marla’s recipe) and now sells two hundred pints per week.

   The Front Street Market has over twenty to thirty thousand items many acquired from fancy food shows in Las Vegas and San Francisco that Jimmy attends.  There are Robert Rothschild’s line of salad dressings and gourmet sauces; Chocolate chips from Belgium; baking and dipping chocolate from around the world; Coffee from Montana Coffee Traders, Illy’s Italian coffee, and Lavalla Coffee .  A wall of over 200 varieties of pasta pleases many along with some 120 kinds of dried beans, peas, and lentils.  And, an aisle of specialty olives and olive oil fulfills the serious gourmands.  Afficionados of Moscow Mules will find copper (mined in Butte) mugs here.  There is spaghetti sauce of every “nature” from New York City, to outstanding Italian restaurants. Even an Amish group makes jams, and jellies with “our own recipes,” notes Jimmy. For tea totalers, the tea room features Republic of Tea, and PG Tips tea.

     Today, Jimmy’s father’s art work and his collection of airplanes fashioned from kits dot the walls and ceiling of his business.

       “It gives the place some ambience,” he says with his ever present grin.

        This bustling business is run by a small army of employees:  Jimmy, Marla, a granddaughter, a grandson, and four others.

     With sweeping enthusiasm into his food forays, Jimmy claims: “I do everything.  So does Marla.  We try to make everyone happy.  Our most popular foods are in the freezer by the front door where we sell our key items: raviolis and lasagna.  Our own recipes are now made for us in Chicago and are trucked in every week.  Early on, we made our own, but that took a lot of time.” 

     Reflecting on the future, Jimmy imparts the thought that: “It’s a lot easier to get into the boat than get out of the boat.”

     Meanwhile, he is often torn between two passions: working and working.  That’s because his grocery gusto is always ramping up.

     “This is really a job I enjoy.  Nobody tells me if my peaches are piled up too high.  I’m my own boss. Marla and I got away eight times last year.  We are open seven days a week year round. Leaving for any length of time creates holes.  We have customers we deal with who spend money.  They like to spend a little more for pasta, etc.   They can ask my wife or myself how to cook something, and we can tell them.  We are customer friendly. 

          Front Street Market

          8 West Front Street

          Butte, Montana 59701

          (406) 782-2614 

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