Business

Pop Stand south of town reopens as Feed Lot 49 at the Pop Stand

The iconic Pop Stand just south of Livingston will reopen its doors with a new name — Feed Lot 49 at the Pop Stand — and a renovated style.

The restaurant, purchased last fall, will open in May complete with a total change of decorations and a new menu.

Once decorated in a 1950s style, Owner Melissa O’Hair has now transformed the space into a rustic eatery complete with repurposed wood, and black and white photos showing some of Livingston’s most important events from over 100 years ago.

Crust and Crumb Bakery opens in Livingston

A new Livingston bakery takes a farmers market favorite to its own store front.

Crust and Crumb Bakery, located in the Yellowstone Gateway Mall, has classic favorites such as pie, cakes, breakfast and lunch items,including a unique chicken salad recipe and homemade bread.

Crust and Crumb Bakery owners Trish and Wes Kirk have been serving their baked goods to farmers markets and grocery stores in Bozeman and Livingston areas.

Trish Kirk said people had been telling her for the last dozen years to open her own bakery but only now did it seem like the right time.

Livingston’s Firehall Fitness gets a makeover

After buying Firehall Fitness Center last summer, owners Jodi and Charles Hubbell have given the business a fresh coat of paint and several more updates.

In the last couple of months, the couple painted the equipment room in gray, bought new equipment, and removed the carpet, giving the underlying concrete a polished marbled look.

Charles Hubell said that they are spending several thousand dollars on the transformations, but they knew it needed to be done.

Park County’s unemployment rate is at 5.5 percent

Park County’s unemployment rate dropped from last year, while the rate for Montana has stayed the same.

Gov. Steve Bullock’s office released the unemployment rates for Montana showing 4.1 percent unemployment rate, similar to the year before. The U.S. has a slightly higher unemployment rate at 4.9 percent.

Park County’s unemployment rate of 5.5 represents a .9 percent drop from the last year, although it is still higher than the state’s. Of the 56 counties in Montana, Park County ranks 34th in unemployment, tied with Blaine and Sliver Bow counties.

Redevelopment Symposium has big turnout

The annual Park County Redevelopment Symposium was held Wednesday, attracting twice as many business owners and community members as last year’s event.

The symposium, attended by over 100 people, was held at the Livingston Depot Center to discuss redeveloping infrastructure and businesses within the community. Montana State University Extension worked with the city of Livingston and Park County to put together the event.

Company sells lines to fiberglass rod fly fishers

An online company based in Livingston is catering to a specific niche of fly fisherman.

406 Fly Lines markets fly lines for fly fishers who use fiberglass rods.

The company began in 2014 but has started taking off in recent months, according to Tom Brodhead, who owns 406 Fly Lines with his wife, Alexis Brodhead.

The couple started the business after an early retirement from their jobs in New York City.

“We had been fishing here for a long time, so we decided to move here,” Tom Brodhead said.

Mainstreeter Thrift Store under new management

The Mainstreeter Thrift Store will be under new management starting March 1, but much of the business is staying the same.

Jan Lukenbill and her daughter Willow Bach Hanson will run the business, which is a Park County Senior Center operation, starting March 1.

Senior Center Director Heidi Barrett had been running the thrift store along with the center. She was finding over the last few months that running both was becoming to difficult, so she paired up with some of her staff to help with management, Barrett said.

Junk and Disorderly, new antique store, opens

A Marilyn Monroe porcelain bust, a rusty vintage Coca-Cola cooler and a tree trunk all fill the room in the new antique store, Junk and Disorderly.

“We chose the name because it made us laugh and it sounds like me,” owner Dan Porter said of the store, which opened today.

Located on East Park Street just west of the Teslow grain elevator, the business’ industrial red building looks a little worse for wear on the outside, but inside Porter, with the help of some friends, transformed it into an industrial looking tree house complete with a walkway.