The Store

In 1892, two recent converts to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, William Karl Soelberg and Dagmar Hansen, were married in Slagelse, Denmark. A year later, with their infant son, Ephraim, they decided to emigrate to America and Zion. They left Denmark on May 4, 1893, arrived in New York City three weeks later on May 24, and were able to travel the rest of the way to Utah by train, arriving in Ogden on May 29.

The next twelve years, the young couple moved to various towns in Utah for work, from Brigham City to Riverton to Bountiful to Bingham (where Karl first worked at a grocery store) and finally, in April of 1905, they came to Grantsville, where Karl became manager of the Grantsville Co-op Store. The Grantsville Co-op was established in 1869 when shareholders from the community combined to purchase a retail establishment run by Aroet and Alma Hale (Aroet is Carol's great-great-grandfather).

Over the next thirty years, Karl and Dagmar worked in various ventures and Karl served multiple missions for the Church.

His first mission began in 1908 to the Southern States. During this time, Dagmar and her living children temporarily moved back to Bountiful where they still owned a home. When Karl returned, he became manager of the Grantsville Trading Company (also referred to as the People's Trading Company) and the family bought a home and small ranch there about two miles west of town. The Grantsville Trading Company was a three-story building on the site where the G & H Store (and later Williams Coal and Lumber) would be (124 West Main Street) and opened on July 2, 1909.

After a failed attempt to open a store in Idaho Falls in 1917, Karl returned to Grantsville and ran a little store that stood where the high school would eventually be built on the southwest corner of Park and Main Street. This store was known as Soelberg's Store. In James R. Williams' autobiography, he mentions that his wife, Alta Jefferies Williams (a first cousin to Dave's grandpa Cal) worked at Soelberg's Store. This ad from the Grantsville News in March of 1919 shows that Karl would sell whatever he could obtain for a good price.

The store did well but caught fire from combustion in the chimney, ending that venture.

It's a little unclear if this was a different store or a continuation of the same store, but The Transcript-Bulletin for February 1, 1924, reports that The Grantsville Trading Company Store, managed by Karl, was completely destroyed by fire on January 30, 1924. The building was only one half covered by insurance. The fire was thought to be caused by an overheated stove.

Ever resourceful, Karl rented the City Hall and sold what he could salvage from the fire and planned to move into a new building being built next to the Opera House by Mrs. Hilda Erickson. He opened his store in this location on May 1, 1924, just three months following the fire.

By May of 1925, Karl and Dagmar had rented out the old Maguire Store on North Main Street and Tooele and were operating Soelberg Mercantile Co. By October of that same year, Karl had opened a new coal yard, calling it the Consumers Coal Company.

Business appeared to be going well. In November of 1926, Karl was looking to sell off the meat department of the Soelberg Mercantile Co. and have it run as a separate business.

The Consumers Coal Company was sold to M. H. Ostler and Arthur S. Bunn in April of 1927.

In October of 1928, Karl was called to a second mission to the Southern States. Karl returned from his second mission by January of 1930, when he was called as a councilor in the bishopric of the Grantsville First Ward. The Great Depression was just getting underway and Karl and Dagmar started raising chickens again, but a violent wind and dust storm destroyed the chickens and tore away all the chicken coops.

They started another store in a small rented space next to the Paul Wrathall home. In 1934, with their youngest son Leroy and his wife Leila, they incorporated this business as The Economy Store. Through hard work and scrimping and saving Karl and Dagmar were able to pay off the debts they had accumulated over the years. The first ad for the Economy Store that I was able to locate appeared in The Transcript-Bulletin on February 8, 1935.

In October of 1935, Karl was called on a third mission, this time back to Denmark. He served in that mission for about two years. On his return, he became very ill due to a boil infection. He was hospitalized in New York City for three months and even after returning to Utah, was in the LDS Hospital for another six weeks. The Transcript-Bulletin from December 3, 1937, states that due to his ongoing hospitalization in Salt Lake City, reporters had been unable to get a full account of his mission. In Karl's absence, Dagmar and Leroy (Roy) continued to run The Economy Store in the building next to the Wrathall home.

Finally, in 1939, Karl, Dagmar, and Leroy built the Economy Store, just east of the southeast corner of Main and Park Street, where Didericksen Memorial stands today. They also built a home just south of the store on Park Street (this home would remain in the Soelberg family until 2000, when it was purchased by Steve and Lola Larson, who still live there today).

Following Karl's death in December of 1944 (In January of 1944, the Grantsville Utah Stake was created, and Karl was called as its first Patriarch. In June of 1943, before the Grantsville Stake was organized, he had been sustained as a patriarch of the Tooele Stake.) Dagmar and Roy continued to run the Economy Store, with Roy eventually taking ownership. Dagmar passed away in 1959, at the age of 85.

In addition to providing groceries, the Economy Store also provided cutting, wrapping, and storage services of meat. Many of their ads during these years were for deer hunters and called attention to the frozen lockers that could be rented at the store. This ad from 1956 also displays the phone number (5531) that the store still has today.

Two years after Dagmar passed away, in 1961, Leroy's son J.R. or Junior and his wife LaRue purchased the Economy Store and renamed it the JR Mart.

One notable event that occurred during the early years of the JR Mart, in 1966, was a Christmas Eve fire. LaRue, in a history of the store she wrote for the Grantsville Gazette in 1985 says:

Another reason the business endured was because of the wonderful, dedicated employees, and the good people of Grantsville who have made it all possible. When we had a fire one Christmas Eve, we thought it would surely be impossible to continue and make up the loss. We were uninsured, and the building was not half paid for. Never will we forget the goodness of all those wonderful people who came to help. Never have I seen people work so hard. Even Ray and Virginia Geldmacher, who were our competitors at the time (me: the Geldmachers ran the G & H Store), came and helped -- determined that we should open as usual on Monday morning. And open we did, with very little financial loss, and feeling rich indeed, from the kindnesses of good people.

Later in life, LaRue would write a full account of this day for The Christmas I Remember Best series in the Deseret News in 1970. In 1975, the account, entitled "I Think You Have a Fire in Your Store" was included in the book "Memorable Christmas Stories", which was compiled by Dr. Leon R. Hartshorn, a BYU professor and former seminary teacher in Grantsville. A few years ago, LaRue's grandson Cam Jefferies produced some amazing artwork and converted the story into a beautiful Christmas book. The dedication of the book reads as follows:

Dedicated To the community of Grantsville, whose generous hearts and helping hands are the heart of this story and hundreds of others not written.

In late 1971, J.R. and LaRue began leasing a building constructed by the Grantsville Development Company (this is the building on Commercial Avenue where Southfork Hardware is now). The store would reside at this location for nineteen years. Though both Carol and Dave had worked in the store prior to this time, it was during this time that both would take a more prominent role in the business. At the time of LaRue's 1985 history, Dave was the Store Manager and Carol was the Bakery Manager, roles that they filled for many years.

In June of 1987, J.R. died tragically in a drowning accident. Shortly following his death, The Grantsville Gazette published this editorial, paying tribute to J.R. and his many contributions to the town of Grantsville.

Following J.R.'s death, LaRue, with the help of Dave and Carol, continued to run the store. And in 1990, they would build the store at its current location on Main Street. At this time, the name was changed again from JR Mart to Soelberg's Thriftway. The land for the store was purchased from Ray Barrus. Ground was broken in July and the store was moved into between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The next few years would mark a transition as Dave and Carol began the process of purchasing the store from LaRue. No one knew it at the time, but the store would operate from this location for nearly 36 years.

As has always been the case, operation of the store under Dave and Carol has been a family affair. All of their six children have worked in the store at one time or another. Their oldest, Aaron, has spent virtually his entire adult career with the store and currently is the Store Director of the Stansbury location. Their next two sons, Ryan and Cam, worked there in high school. Ryan's wife Sandy ran the floral department for years and Cam is the designer behind the store logo along with other design projects. Jeanell worked for the store in high school and her early married years and has been involved continuously since we moved back to Grantsville in 2013. She currently is the Store Director of the Grantsville store (along with Tony Clark). Rachel is involved mostly behind the scenes with social media, savers, the ad, training and other areas I'm sure I'm forgetting. And Collin, the youngest, has worked there for years as well, assisting with dairy, freight, and whatever his big sister needs him to do.

This was the building I best remember. Jeanell asked me to MORP on the marquee of this building in 1993 and part of our date was eating pizza in the upstairs conference room. I remember the First Security Bank branch that used to be there (where Guest Services is now) and the selection of VHS tapes to rent (where Birch Family Pharmacy is now) and the San Francisco Sourdough Pizza that operated there for a time.

And the donuts, how I remember the donuts. Though I never worked there myself (all of my siblings and several of my friends did), when I worked on the Titmus ranch, we would frequently make donut runs into town. When I was young and could eat what I wanted I always loved to have a maple bar or sometimes a bear claw or a raspberry-filled Danish.

Jeanell worked in the store when we were in high school and I remember going to visit her there. She continued to work there when we were first married.

When the Main Street store was built in 1990, the population of Grantsville was about 4,500. Even in the early 2000s, the community was outgrowing the store (by 2010, the population had nearly doubled to almost 9,000) and Dave and Carol explored the idea of building a new store at that time. Instead, they were persuaded by their advisors at Associated Food Stores to stay in the store for a while longer and to instead open a new location in Stansbury. The Stansbury location opened in 2011.

In 2013, after living away from Grantsville for thirteen years, we moved home and Jeanell returned to work for her parents at the store. She started as the GM (General Merchandise) Manager and eventually took over as Store Director of the Grantsville store.

As I read and researched to put this post together, one thing that stuck out to me as I browsed through past newspapers was how Soelbergs (and its predecessors) have always been a hub of the community. They have sponsored and supported countless activities, collected donations for numerous causes, and have always been the place to buy Sociable tickets or register for the Ray Barrus 5K.

In the coming days, a new chapter will begin for the store. On October 20, the lights will be turned off at the Main Street location for the final time and on October 22, the doors will open at the new location on Matthews Lane. Getting to this point has been neither fast nor has it been easy.

The process of building the new store began more than five years ago. Property had to be acquired, plans had to be approved, infrastructure put in place, and objections and criticism overcome. The project spanned the tenures of multiple mayors and city councils. But once ground broke early this year, the building went up quickly and with the cooperation of good weather, was completed ahead of schedule.

Carol and Dave love Grantsville and can trace their ancestry back to the city's earliest settlers. Luminaries such as Aroet Hale, Hyrum Booth, Edward Hunter, Abraham Fawson, William Jefferies, William Rydalch, and Thomas Henry Clark dot their family trees. And that love of and dedication to Grantsville is reflected emphatically in the new store. The silo at the southeast corner of the building as a nod to the community's agricultural roots, including the former farmland where it is built. The aisles share the names of Grantsville's iconic streets, such as Durfee, Quirk, and Hale. You can find fresh fruits and vegetables in the Deseret Peak Produce section or head over to the Piccadilly Deli to grab some lunch. The frozen section can be found on the "Cool"ey aisle or you can sit and enjoy your coffee or a snack in the Poplar Place Chat N Chew.

The entire store is a tribute to Grantsville, to the community and people who have supported the Soelberg family through the years. From the tiny building on Main just off Park Street to the 9,000-square-foot building (originally 6,000, but then another 3,000 was added later to accommodate a bakery), to the 24,000-square-foot building at the current location on Main, to the 35,000-square-foot Stansbury store, and now the brand new 48,000-square-foot (plus another 11,000 for the Ace Hardware) building on Matthews Lane.

When I asked Carol about the journey of the past five years, she had this to say:

We had to overcome and are still overcoming many obstacles. We just wanted to give our community something greater and more Grantsville than they had ever known. We were excited to do that. So it seems like forever ago that we started but now that we're here, it seems a little unreal. It was well worth the wait. And I so appreciate the folks and entities that supported us through this all. I won't lie...it was painful but I hope the community thinks they have something special here.

If Karl and Dagmar could see (and maybe they can) the fruits of their humble endeavors that began over a hundred years ago, I'm sure they would be both amazed and proud. Carol has spent more than 60 years working for the store (longer than any of her predecessors) and Dave has been there by her side for almost all of it. From the outside, it's easy to think these things just happen, but I have seen first-hand the blood, sweat, tears, and sacrifice that go into making a business successful.

October 22 is going to be a great day for the store and for Grantsville. I hope you'll join us. And I hope you love "Grantsville's Grocery Store".