By Hope Good
For generations of Montanans, the name Buttrey was synonymous with shopping. Long before Buttrey became a familiar supermarket name across the region, however, its story began with an ambitious Canadian-born merchant named Frank A. Buttrey and a small store in Havre, Montana.
Frank A. Buttrey was born November 21, 1868, in London, Ontario, Canada. After coming to Montana, he established himself in Havre and operated a general merchandise business known as The Fair.
The young business faced a devastating test during the Great Havre Fire of 1904. The enormous blaze swept through the commercial district, destroying numerous businesses and residences.
Fortunately, Buttrey managed to save most of his merchandise before the flames hit and immediately rebuilt a permanent brick structure on the corner of 2nd Street and 3rd Avenue. (This historic building is known today as The Atrium Shopping Mall.) By 1909, he officially changed the business name to the Buttrey Department Store. The store had various departments on the two main floors and in its basement, and became a major shopping point in the region putting Havre clearly on the map.
Buttrey was famous for unique marketing ideas. He offered free train fare refunds and organized morning bus rides from nearby towns like Chinook to bring shoppers straight to downtown Havre.
In 1912 Buttrey’s began selling groceries along with its regular merchandise. As an entrepreneur, he was one of the first of offer automobile retail delivery service in Montana and was the first to introduce frozen foods in Montana.
Buttrey was also an innovator. In 1922, Buttrey launched KFBB, Montana’s very first radio station, broadcasting directly from inside his department store. Early programming was simple by modern standards—weather reports, grain and market information, recorded music and other material useful and entertaining to residents scattered across Montana’s Hi-Line. In 1929 to reach a larger commercial market and improve its broadcast capabilities, KFBB moved to Great Falls. By 1930, the station shifted frequencies securing a clearer and more consistent signal and in 1954 KFBB expanded to television to capture the public’s growing interest in the new visual medium.
The historical transition of the Buttrey corporate footprint from Havre to Great Falls occurred in sequential phases during the 1950s and 1960s, following the death of founder Frank A. Buttrey who died at his home in Havre in 1949 at age 80. By 1958 the beloved Buttrey Foods, Inc. had became a regional supermarket based out of Great Falls, with the largest supermarket in Montana.
The Jewel Companies, Inc. acquired the grocery division in 1966 and sold off the old department store branch. Salt Lake City-based American Stores Co. took ownership of Jewel’s grocery operations, including Buttrey, in 1984. An investor group and management bought Buttrey out in 1990, establishing it as an independent public company (Buttrey Holding Corp.) based in Great Falls.
Albertsons purchased Buttrey in 1998, when the chain operated forty-four stores and generated over $391 million in revenue. The iconic Buttrey name was subsequently retired and twenty-nine Buttrey stores ultimately converted to Albertsons.
After more than a century of retail history, the familiar Buttrey name disappeared from Montana storefronts. Its influence, however, did not disappear. Buttrey remains an important part of Montana’s history.