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Written By Gabby Anstey
Four years ago, Darin and Valerie Hill, owners of the Mountain Market in Ridgway, left Texas for the San Juan Mountains. Having lived in Wyoming years ago, their goal was to head westward again someday to be closer to family. Ridgway presented itself as the perfect place to settle down with their three daughters Natasha (9), Brianna (13) and Alyssa (14).

"We wanted to move while our kids were still young and after deciding to buy the market, Ridgway became the place," says Valerie. "We love it here; we couldn't be happier."

While many move to the mountains and delve into entirely new business opportunities, managing grocery stores were old hat to the Hills. Darin managed large grocery stores (Smith's in Wyoming and HEB Food tores in Texas) for about 18 years, so they happened upon the Mountain Market with lots of experience. As for owning a small store after being involved with corporate America for so long,Valerie says it's been a great experience.

Since the Hills took over the Mountain Market, they've expanded their meat and deli selections and continue carrying as wide a selection of natural and onventional products that their small space permits. Future plans include building a brand new, significantly bigger, store.

"We have a lot of folks from Telluride, Norwood and Placerville, in addition to Ridgway and Ouray, who come and buy their groceries here," says Valerie. "We aim to expand in order to give our clients more of a full shopping experience."

Valerie says that a lot of their items are priced competitively with City Market in Montrose. They also pride themselves on carrying as much local produce and products as possible.

"We try to showcase any sort of local product and do our best to take care of local vendors," she says.

As for life in Ridgway, the Hills adore these hills. They've all taken a strong liking to skiing in the winter (up in Telluride) and in the summer, take advantage of being outside as much as possible. Even with store hours at 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. everyday, they manage to reap the benefits of mountain living.

Mountain Market is only closed Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter but Valerie admits even on those days, they usually let a few stragglers in.

"We usually open for just a few hours," she says, "for those people who forgot to buy whipping cream or something,"