For 60 some odd years, Mary’s Market has been the local grocery store serving the people of Kit Carson, Wild Horse, and the outlying rural areas of Cheyenne County. However, recently the doors to the Market have closed leaving the locals as well as anyone who travels through to drive 20+ miles to the nearest grocery store. However, that was before a business plan with the community needs at its forefront was conceived and has evolved to what is now the expanded Kit Carson Mini Mart.
Owner and operator of the Kit Carson Inn, Keith Curvy began his Mini Mart as not much of a mini mart at all, his intention when he purchased a cooler was to provide soda and other cold drinks for the patrons of the Inn, he also offered snacks like candy bars and bags of chips as an accommodation to help the guests settle in. But more and more Keith would have local customers who would frequent his little convenient shop on Sundays and Mondays when Mary’s Market was closed and what started with one request to begin carrying milk snow balled into dozens of requests with the customers to follow.
Many ranchers and other customers in the area would begin to shop at what is now the Kit Carson Mini Mart on days and hours when Mary’s Market was closed but when the doors closed for Mary’s Market, Keith had to get creative to offer more items for the people in the community.
“When Mary’s Market Closed, the requests went through the roof.” Keith states in an interview Monday.
With inflation and gas prices soaring this summer, driving 20 miles to the nearest grocery stores was inconceivable for just a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread, however with the community orientated and Oregon native, Keith Curvy, locals look no farther than the Kit Carson Mini Mart located on the corner of Highways 59 and 287.
Curvy is now in the process to open up another room which will add nearly 800 more square feet to the Mini Mart and he will begin offering Chicken, Pork, and Beef as well as more items that the locals need on a daily basis.
The Mini Mart is open 7-days per week from 8 a.m. through 9 p.m. for anyone who is looking to pick up a few groceries, and if what you are looking for is not available, Keith Curvy will take requests and do what he can to get that item on his shelves for you.
“If someone was to come into Kit Carson and re-open Mary’s Market, or open another fully functional grocery store, I would scale back in a heartbeat, because I believe that is what would be best for the community of Kit Carson. Until then the Mini Mart is here.”
You can get ahold of Keith at the Kit Carson Mini Mart at 719-425-8800 and don’t forget to check out their Facebook page Kit Carson Mini Mart.
