Valley Butchery and Meat Market, located at 624 Pleasant Ave. in Spring Valley, is ready to expand. The current location, purpose-built in 1963 as a full-service meat processing facility, has faithfully served the Spring Valley community for nearly 60 years but needs renovation and expansion. “The need to expand has been there for some time,” explains Rusty Hellickson, 4th generation “Lockerman” and co-owner of Valley Butchery with his son Tanner. “We simply need more space to be able to offer our customers the products and services that we want to”. Planned renovations will include a new meat cooler, an in-house smokehouse, improved workstations, and a larger retail product case.
Family-owned and operated; Valley Butchery’s business has been growing steadily since Hellickson’s purchased the business in 2017. The COVID-19 pandemic forced many people to look to their local businesses to provide goods and services, and butcher shops were no exception. “We have seen a big increase in demand for our products”, explains Hellickson, “especially from customers who were used to going elsewhere for their meats, but now realize that they can buy quality local meats without the travel.”
While the increase in business has been positive, there have been significant challenges. Planning a comprehensive remodel has proved difficult with supply shortages, skyrocketing costs, and lining up bids and contractors. For the most part, contractors have stayed busy, and are often booked out several months on projects. “COVID has also made it a nightmare to get supplies for their daily business operations,” adds Hellickson. “Simple everyday things like gloves, plastic wrap, and other packaging supplies are now more expensive and in much shorter supply”
Additionally, any renovation and expansion also require significant financial resources. Valley Butchery was able to utilize multiple funding sources to help with its expansion, explains Chris Hahn, EDA Director for Spring Valley. “My predecessor worked to help secure a Minnesota Department of Agriculture Value-Added Producer Grant in 2019, and then they were able to apply and receive gap funding from the Spring Valley EDA to help secure the financing for the entire project. Being able to help core community businesses like a butcher shop, leverage all the resources available is vital to our small rural communities!”
Valley Butchery and Meat Market is locally owned and operated, and offers full-service slaughterhouse, meat-cutting, and packaging services to Spring Valley and the surrounding area. To contact Valley Butchery and Meat Market please call them 507-346-7707 or check them out on Facebook.
