Albertsons Grand Re-opening

It was almost 56 years ago (nearly to the day) that then Buttery Foods moved into the current location in Malta where shoppers visit Albertsons for their grocery needs.

The year was 1959 and the cost of bread was 20-cents per loaf and a T-Bone steak could be had for $1.09 per pound. The grocery store moved from its home of 20 years on Central Avenue to its new – and current – location in 1959 and held a grand opening the second week in December. The new building boasted 60x120 feet of floor space, a green, dark red and yellow color scheme, four checkout stands and three new checkers to help maintain the expansion.

Flash forward to today and Cheryl Voegel, the store's manager, bags groceries at the front check stands and looks out over the expansion of the store she started working at 30 years ago. She is amazed.

"It has been challenging and trying, but it has been fun," she said. "To stand over at the checkouts and look out over this expansion is pretty incredible. "But this isn't about me, it's about the people of Malta. I have the best customers ever and I thank them for their support and patience during this time because it has been pretty chaotic around here lately."

The store is now approximately 17,000 square feet, has added a bakery and both hot and cold deli cases, new customer restrooms, five new grocery tables, hundreds of news grocery brands and coming soon more and more fresh cut fruits and handmade items.

"The store if wonderful, but my favorite part of all this is seeing the people come in and giving so many positive comments about the changes," said Voegel. "The customers enjoying the expansion makes all the construction worthwhile."

Chuck Cremer, district manager of the Intermountain Division of Albertsons, said the decision to expand the Malta Albertsons was a simple one to make.

"We listened to our customers and there's some areas that we weren't able to take care of the customer's needs with the size of the store we had previously," he said. "So we are able to add not only a service deli and bakery, but much, much more of a full-line offering in our grocery and general merchandise departments. It is coming along well, but we have a little bit to go yet."

One area the new and improved Albertsons is still working on is a fresh-cut fruit section unlike any other Albertsons on the Hi-Line, according to Tony Berumen, operation specialist out of Billings.

"We are going to add a fresh-cut display with all the product being hand-cut daily," Berumen said. "There will be fruit and veggie trays, a bunch of different types of melons, fresh guacamole and salsa ... there will be over 100 varieties of handmade items. This will be the only store on the Hi-line to offer these products."

While Theresa "T-Bone" Embree shopped at Albertsons on Thursday afternoon, she stopped to tell Voegel how much she was enjoying the store, giving Voegel a hug while she did.

"I think it is all amazing and I love the new selections, especially the deli," T-Bone said.

Besides adding floor space and hundreds of new grocery products, the Albertsons renovations has also created nearly 30 more jobs in Malta as the store needed to expand its staff to cover the new spaces.

Christopher Embree, one of the new employees at the store, came to Malta for vacation a few weeks ago via Boise with his mother to visit his sister, T-Bone, and on a whim applied for a position in the deli and got the job.

"I love Cheryl and the new store," Embree said. "Malta is a wonderful place and I am really happy to be here."

Voegel and the Albertsons' staff have plenty to be proud of with the remodeled store, but Voegel said it's the people who make the store.

"The thing I am most proud of with all this is my employees and customers putting up with all the changes," she said. "Again, I would look to extend my gratitude to all of them."