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Oak Creek’s Mountain Market closing Saturday

Munchies restaurant to take over entire space

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Matt Stensland

— In the 30 years P.K. Baldwin has worked in the convenience store business, her dream was always to open her own store.

Barely a year after she realized her lifelong dream with Mountain Market in Oak Creek, Baldwin will close the store because of ongoing health problems.

Just five months after moving from the Oak Creek Sinclair gas station to the old Black Mountain Tavern building on Sharp Street, Baldwin will host a sale Saturday on the store’s final day.



“The stress of the store is just too much for me,” she said.

Munchies, a new restaurant that opened in January in the back of the market, will take over the entire building and expand its services, restaurant owner Richard Hart said.



“This will be better for me,” said Hart, who also cooks the pizza, ribs, chicken wings and sandwich orders for pickup and delivery around Oak Creek and Stagecoach. “I’ve been really limited in what I could do here because we shared the space.”

He said that the closing surprised him but that it would give him the opportunity to nearly double his space and offer significantly more seating for the counter-service restaurant.

Hart plans to offer a few new menu items and expand his hours to stay open from noon to 10 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and from noon to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

Baldwin said in addition to her health, the existence of a medical marijuana dispensary, Mary’s Medical, next door to the market presented issues that affected her business.

“The last few months have been really bad in the store with the odor,” she said. “It does directly affect the sales in our store. … I don’t want to deal with it.”

Hart did not comment on any issues with the business next door.

Although her newfound free time will allow her to visit family and maybe go hunting with her boyfriend and Mountain Market co-owner Ralph Fox, Baldwin said she would miss the ever-interesting stream of people who captured her attention during her long career in convenience stores.

“When you’ve been in the business as long as I have, you’ve met all of them,” she said. “All different kinds of people. The ones you don’t want to come back and ones you don’t want to leave.”

“It makes me sad to have to close it.”

— To reach Nicole Inglis, call 970-871-4204 or email ninglis@SteaboatToday.com


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