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Ebels family members dig into the ground at the groundbreaking ceremony to kick off the construction of the new Ebels General Store on Chestnut Street in Reed City, at the site of the former Vic's Supermarket on Thursday. Opening of the new store is planned for February 2021. (Herald Review photo/Cathie Crew)
REED CITY -- The Ebels family, owners of the Ebels General Store in Falmouth, broke ground on the planned grocery store in Reed City on Thursday, before a crowd of local city officials and residents excited to see it come to town.
Following a brief introduction of the Ebels family, Tom Ebels spoke to the crowd saying they had been talking about a new store for three or four years and wondering where to go, and in conversations with Brad Taylor and his crew at Osceola State Bank, they decided to put the new store in "Uptown Reed City."
"That's going to be the slogan," Tom Ebels said. "Beautiful 'downtown Falmouth' and 'uptown Reed City'. We are really excited to be here in Reed City, and thankful that we could come here. Thank you everyone for coming out and being a part of this."
Bob Ebels added that they wanted to thank the crews from Gerber Construction that have been working with them, along with Fred Campbell from JML Designs, who is the architect on the project and is responsible for the store design.
"Thank you to all of them, and the crew at OSB," Bob Ebels said. "We also want to thank Reed City city manager Ron Howell who has been an integral part of getting this project accomplished. Everyone here has been great to work with, and we thank you for that."
Reed City United Methodist Church Pastor Kristen Coristine, in offering a prayer, said, "We give thanks for this family and this business that is coming to our town that will bring some life to a place of deep woundedness. May they be embraced by this community."
"And without further ado, I guess we should grab a shovel," Mark Ebels said.
With that, family members grabbed shovels, placed them in the ground and dug up a scoop of dirt.
"Away we go ... and we are started!" he said.
"This is really exciting," Bob Ebels said. "We are happy to finally get going. It took a little longer than we planned, but we are finally getting there. This will be a new parking lot, and we are going to work on the rest of the buildings too updating the facades and freshening it up."
In celebration of the event, the family passed out packages of their own handmade beef jerky to those in attendance.
The Ebels family purchased the property that was once Vic's Supermarket in December 2019, and had planned to have the new store grand opening in May, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the original store in Falmouth.
The decision to demolish the former Vic's building and rebuild all new construction delayed the process, however. In addition, with the shutdown across the state due to the COVID-19 pandemic, construction was delayed for several weeks.
Vic's Supermarket was closed in 2018, leaving the city without a grocery store.
The new Ebels supermarket will be 23,000-square feet and will include a meat market, grocery, produce and dairy items, along with a grab and go deli area with a separate entrance for quick pick up, Bob Ebels said.
