Melstone Mercantile
Melstone
Becky Stensvad, proprietor
On a recent winter day, three muddy diesel trucks sat idling outside the Melstone Mercantile on main street in Melstone. Inside the warm, inviting store, the owners of those pickups, guys wearing blue jeans, Carhartt coats, cowboy hats and mud-covered boots, were talking and laughing with each other as the proprietor, Becky Stensvad, made their coffees.
Not just any coffee, her signature cups—The Rancher, specially made with the ranchers in mind, with a shot of white chocolate. The guys joked with each other as they waited for their lattes.
“I love that a lot of my coffee customers are guys,” Becky said. “You’d be surprised how many of them like to start their day with a cup of our hot coffee.”
The guys lingered for a while and caught up before getting the day going. It wasn’t too long before the store was quiet and the sounds of diesel engines faded down the road.
Owning a general merchandise retail store in her hometown of Melstone was not a goal that Becky had set for herself. In fact, the single mother of three is a registered nurse and works multiple days in Forsyth, a community 65 miles away. But when the opportunity to purchase the established hardware and grocery store came up, she took a hard look at it and ended up buying it.
“It’s definitely been a culture shock for me going from a career in nursing to knowing the different sizes of bolts and what veterinary supplies are the best to have on hand,” she laughed. “But it’s been good. My customers are teaching me a lot of things!”
The original building was built in 1912—and Becky’s great-great-uncle was the pharmacist.
“Back then it was a pharmacy, liquor store and general store,” Becky said. “Actually, minus the liquor, it wasn’t much different than it is today.”
Since Becky purchased the building just over a year ago, she has repurposed much of the original furnishings. The bar that was used for liquor has become the back wall of the coffee shop. Five stools in bright red vinyl flank the counter where customers are accustomed to chatting as they wait for their favorite coffee beverages.
In the middle of the café part of the store is an original phone booth that was in another part portion of the store and used to store stock.
“Back then it was a pharmacy, liquor store and general store. Actually, minus the liquor, it wasn’t much different than it is today.”
“It’s so pretty,” Becky said, “and reminds people of times gone by.” The phone book hanging on it reads 1984, a reminder that it wasn’t that long ago that cell phones were nonexistent, and most people depended on finding a phone booth to take care of business.
Every morning, Becky posts her lunch special on the Mercantile’s Facebook page. It keeps her customers abreast of what’s going on. “Some still don’t have Facebook, so I get calls every morning anyway.” They can either grab and go or sit for a bit at the oak table gracing the center of the store.
Beyond being a terrific coffee shop and a deli that specializes in fresh, homemade soup on a daily basis, the store is packed with just about any merchandise one would need. Plumbing supplies, fencing, kitchen items, animal health products, pellet stoves and pellets and hunting and camping gear are all jammed into the tightly packed shelves. The hand-painted signs hanging above the aisles reflect what is below.
“I bought the inventory along with the purchase,” Becky said. “There’s a lot of treasures here!”
The original building has been added on to several times and Becky is working through sorting her inventory and displaying it creatively. Toward the back of the building is an unheated area where she stores all the merchandise that doesn’t need to be in a heated building, things like fencing and building supplies, hoses and ropes, pellets and dozens of bins of nails. Two barn cats patrol the area. The packed aisles and dark corners seem to promise that if you take enough time, you’ll surely find a treasure.
“Can you believe the nails?” Becky asked. “I have every size you could ever imagine!”
Just a short distance away are boxes of rubber overshoes with metal buckles, which have lost their fashion and function to muck boots.
“I don’t think these are even made anymore,” she said. “I mean, does anybody wear overshoes anymore?”
She takes in stride the work ahead of her as she slowly clears the outdated merchandise and replaces it with more current products. At the same time, she’s also entering everything into a computerized system. It’s a daunting project that will take months to complete.
“All the ordering was done by hand before,” Becky said. “It will be the biggest improvement I make to get all my inventory on the computer.”
Help comes from several part-time employees and her daughter. Teigan, a high school junior, comes over after school to give her mom a hand.
“She’s great help,” Becky said. “She’s organized several areas of the store already and makes a great latte!”
Becky heats the old building with a diesel furnace and two wood stoves, a chore that takes close tending on cold days.
“We don’t run out of things to do, that’s for sure,” she said.
The community has supported Becky and her daughters well. Having grown up on her family’s nearby ranch has helped, and she has the only store between Forsyth and Roundup.
“There’s an outfitter not too far from here that has told his clients that if they can’t find what they are looking for at our mercantile, then he’ll pay them $100.” she said. “So far, he hasn’t had to pay anyone.”