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This is Fred Ball For Zions Bank, speaking on business.
During the winter months, Garden City next to Bear Lake supports a population just above 400 residents. Once summer sets in though, the town's streets swell with visitors, most of which come from Idaho and Utah. Remarkably, on some weekends in the summer, nearly 30,000 people visit the resort town.
Since most businesses in the Garden City area revolve around the sudden population boom, many of the local businesses shut down for the winter, including all of the town's grocery stores and markets — that is, all except for one. Lakeview Market stays open year-round. But that wasn't always the case. Before Dan and Mike Moldenhauer bought the store last May, Lakeview Market would close for the winter just like all the rest.
Dan bought the store along with the Bear Lake KOA campsite, where the store is located. Immediately upon purchasing the market and campsite Mike tells me they started making drastic changes. First, they expanded the store to include a fresh produce and meat section. Next they worked on the KOA, adding new bathrooms, a kitchen facility and laundry services. They also constructed a tent village with private pavilions and are currently adding 16 more cabins to the nine they already operate. In addition, they have started renting snowmobiles and promoting their heated cottages to attract visitors during the winter. Eventually, Mike says they hope to have a total of 70 cabins and cottages, and operate the campsite year-round.
For Mike and Dan, running a grocery store comes naturally. Their father, Dan, owns and operates Lew & Dan's Thriftway in Soda Springs, Idaho. Mike says they started at an early age working in their father's grocery store.
I'd say, from the looks of it, Lakeview Market and the Bear Lake KOA have great facilities and service to offer both Garden City residents and all those Utah and Idaho visitors all year-round.
For Zions Bank, I'm Fred Ball. I'm speaking on business.
