After just six weeks, Guernsey again has a grocery store under new ownership
WHEATLAND — Six weeks ago, the abrupt closure of Guernsey’s only full-service grocery store, Lynn’s Superfoods, made headlines because of the impact to the community. Immediately, the local and regional community pitched in to help those put into hardship from having their access to fresh food cut off without warning on February 19.
Though Lynn’s donated as much frozen food, meat and shelf items as possible to the Guernsey Food Pantry in their exit, many in the community were at a loss.
But the community at large stepped up.
The Guernsey mayor made phone calls to see if he could find a solution to the town’s dilemma. The Guernsey senior center organized trips to Wheatland for residents in need to pick up groceries. Wheatland’s Thrifty Foods and the Platte County Chamber of Commerce organized a system of volunteers combined with call-in shopping orders to fill and deliver groceries. Dollar General in Guernsey expanded its products to try to meet the demand, and Main Street Market from Torrington expanded its online shopper program developed during COVID to make a weekly delivery to Guernsey.
Neighbors, friends, and family also made special trips to get groceries out of town for those who find it difficult to travel the 30-plus miles to the next-nearest grocery stores.
But good news for the community became reality last week when Guernsey welcomed the new Superfoods store owners Jodie and BJ Axford.
The couple have plans to make the locally owned community store meet the needs of Guernsey residents and visitors alike.
Jodie said she welcomes suggestions on what people would like to see, and store manager Juanita Lira said she already has a list started.
“The prior owners worked with us. They wanted to get the store going, and the town council has been very supportive,” Jodie said.
Last Wednesday, April 2, was the mini grand opening of the store.
Jodie said residents can expect to see a lot of changes over the next few weeks and months as they transition the store from the Lynn’s cookie-cutter store model into something more uniquely Guernsey and yet similar to the Axfords’ Wheatland store, Thrifty Foods.
The meat department has an in-house butcher who is being trained by Thrifty Foods butcher Mike Montoya; there will be more Wyoming and local products and the occasional product sampling events, and the pricing will also improve over time as stock is rotated and the employees have a chance to go over the approximately 13,000 products in the store.
“If I had waited to go through and re-tag the entire store, it would have taken at least another two weeks to get the doors open on the store. I haven’t even gotten a chance to contact all the vendors yet, but I’m working on that,” Jodie explained, adding she wanted to get the doors open for the community as quickly as possible. “The biggest thing is we will work at having more competitive pricing and products the people of Guernsey want to have.”
Guernsey resident John Lister stopped by the store on April 2 and sampled some fresh-roasted Cheyenne Coffee Company coffee (roasted in Wheatland the same day) at a sample booth during the grand opening.
He commented that he was pleased with having the store open, adding, “If they have coffee, I’ll come in every day.”
Jodie noted that will go on the list.
“I’m so excited the store is opening today,” Twister’s Eatery manager Darrel Reitz said last week. He explained he didn’t realize how much he’d miss the local store until it closed.
“Having to buy a lot of extra [groceries] and finding a place to store them. You can’t run out of anything – like tomatoes – or you have to drive 30 miles to get more.”
Superfoods was able to hire 98% of the employees from the previous establishment, and the owners are currently hiring in preparation for a busy spring and summer season.
“I feel strongly supportive of the staff. They are extremely dedicated,” Jodie said, adding she’s looking forward to being a part of the Guernsey community.
This story was published on April 9, 2025.