Customers appreciated in Malta

Westside Self Service

Close to 500 people turned up at the Westside Self Service Customer Appreciation Street Dance in Malta on Saturday night for food, fun and live music by Trial By Fire.

"Would you look at these people," Tom Golik, longtime Westside employee said. "What a great turnout."

Bob and Bridgett Ereaux hosted the event as a way to say thank you to their customers. Three different barbeques flame-grilled over 350 hamburger patties, another 450 Rocky Mountain hot dogs while Bob whipped up 15-gallons of baked beans and Bridget boiled 45-pounds of potatoes for the potato salad.

"I was worried no one would show up," Bridgett said, 30-minutes into the event. "I am so glad I was wrong."

Trial by Fire – comprised of Jory Schipman and Kelly McCann of Malta, Chris Pippen of Saco and Rachel Sigmundstad of Glasgow – started the live music at 6 p.m. and kept people dancing and toes tapping. As the band played, over 20 Westside Self Service employees, family members and friends kept the food line moving serving up the grub. About 90 minutes into the event, most of the barbeque was gone, but the Westside staff kept those late arrivals fat and happy and started serving fresh corndogs and pizza from the store's food court.

While the parents were eating, the children in attendance played several different games to pass the time, earning white tickets to deposit for a chance to win from the laundry list of prizes to be had. The children weren't the only ones to win raffle prizes and as the night progressed, a drawing for such items as Yeti Cooler and a Nike golf bag were held for adults.

"I just hope everyone had fun and that they know how important all of our customers are to us," Bob said at the end of the night. "Next year, we will have twice the food."

Albertsons

Albertsons hosted their fifteenth annual Customer Appreciation Day Picnic last Wednesday, August 17. The event featured plenty of bratwursts, hot dogs, side dishes, ice cream, water guns and raffle prizes.

This year's Appreciation Day is the first since the Malta store has added its' new wing.

Chuck Cremer, District Manager of the Intermountain Division, shared the plans for the store's new space and since its opening Cremer has been impressed with how well the addition has gone over.

"It's going on about six months since we've grand opened the store and we're very pleased with the outcome of the store," Cremer said. "I think the community has accepted it very well."

The new addition included a deli, a bakery and an expansion to the store's inventory, nearly doubling the store's size.

According to Cremer, the deli was doing so well one week before the grand opening, they decided to bring in the fresh cut program.

"That's our fresh fruit that you notice on the end cap," Cremer said. "We scrambled to procure a case and get people hired and trained and it's been doing really well."

Along with Cremer, there were several managers from the Intermountain Division that came to help including first time attendee Danny Staley, who is the Front End Manager (Customer Service) for not only the Billings location but all of Montana.

"I've been missing out," Staley said. "This is an amazing time."