Volume 1, Issue 9 JULY 28, 2023
Ed’s Orchard Market in Hesperia celebrates 80 years of serving the community By Amanda Dodge The Oceana Echo Community Correspondent
PERMIT NO 62
PRE-SORTED STANDARD U.S. POSTAGE
RESIDENTIAL POSTAL CUSTOMER PAID ECRWSS BIG RAPIDS, MI 49307
“We are a family here,” Scott Rumsey, owner of Ed’s Orchard Market in Hesperia, said about the employees at his business, which marks its 80th anniversary this year. And consequently, Rumsey is also in the family business, as his wife, Theresa, is the daughter of the store’s namesake, Ed Dean. “My wife’s grandfather, Roland ‘Ron’ (Dean) worked for Kroger. He lived in Cedar Springs and managed stores in Grand Haven, Cedar Springs and Big Rapids,” Rumsey explained. “He worked for them and then kind of had an urge, or an inkling, that it might be a good idea to go out on his own. “He had the knowledge and an opportunity to come to Hesperia…and in 1943 he opened a small store. It was actually located where the old variety store building is. There was, previous to that building, another huge building
Scott Rumsey, owner of Ed’s Orchard Market, is excited to celebrate the store’s 80th anniversary this year. He said that would not be possible without the family atmosphere there, which includes long-time employees and generations of customers. • Amanda Dodge/Echo & Contributed
there that housed a hardware and there were retail shops on the west side of that building. So, he had just a small store in there. “My father-in-law was 8 years old. He tells the story often that he and his sister’s first job in the store was sorting potatoes. They got potatoes in 100-pound bins and sorted the bad ones out and bagged up the good. “He said that was his auspicious beginning in the grocery business.” Rumsey went on to say that they operated out of that first small store until a competitor in town purchased the entire building and kindly asked Ron to leave.
“So rather than leave town, he came across the street and bought a building that stood on the corner,” Rumsey said, adding that building can be seen painted on the front window of the store by Fremont artist Renae Wallace, framed in his office and also on one of the store’s walls. “That building was originally being used by the order of Odd Fellows. He bought that building from them, and then it was two stories, so he gave them a lifetime lease for the second floor so they could continue to have their meetings, and he opened Hesperia Food Market in the late 1940s.” Rumsey further explained that they
needed to expand at that location after being in business for a while, and so an addition was built on the north side of that building. “In 1969 was when they moved down here to this location. They bought the building that housed the former Alpha Creamery that had operated in Hesperia for years, and basically tore that down all except for maybe one wall that’s still in our back room,” he said. “So that building was actually torn down except for the addition part, and the addition is what now is the Lion’s Den building that sits over there, and the lawn in front of the Lion’s Den - that’s where the
store was.” All of that history brings the store to where it is today, located at 75 W. Michigan Ave. Rumsey said the store opened in the spring of 1970, and has been added onto significantly three times. He said that the last addition was during 1996 and 1997 and added 15,000 square feet to the store, expanding departments, including the popular deli and bakery sections, and the back room capacity. That last addition brought the store close to 30,000 square feet, and it can now house 30,000 to 40,000 individual items for sale. Their bakery section is a customer favorite, he added, and
it even has its own Facebook page: Bakery Ladies at Ed’s Orchard Market. “We are continually maintaining and upgrading,” Rumsey said. “We’ve added our smokehouse to our meat department. That was a huge addition. We’ve had that for a little over 15 years, and that’s added a pretty unique product mix that our customers have really come to enjoy.” The most recent addition, he added, is their liquor section, which they began in February of 2022. Rumsey said that came about after a long application process and just adds another level of convenience for shoppers. “That’s one less stop they have to make, and that’s gone pretty well.” Rumsey said he currently has around 50 employees, with around half being full-time, and many high school students can claim Ed’s Orchard Market as their first place of employment. “You can imagine somebody from pretty much every (local) family has worked here.” And the family ties continue, as Rumsey said his sister-in-law, Rhonda Wright, is the scanning coordinator and has worked at the store since she was in high school. Longevity is a hallmark of Ed’s Orchard Market employees, with several having worked there for 15– 20 years. Yet there is one that Rumsey said has been there since the 1960s, and that is Marie Videtich. “She was part of a polka band for years, playing
Ed’s 80th continued on p. 5