The business has a full-service grocery store — with a bakery, deli and beer/wine and liquor section — plus the Ace Hardware section.

Tresedder purchased Jubilee Foods in 2006 and rebranded it as Crystal Fresh Market in 2017, when Ace Hardware was added.

“It was a really good fit for us, very similar to our Iron River store,” Tresedder said.

Tresedder, an Ishpeming native and Michigan Technological University graduate, worked as an engineer for 10 years before joining his father Ross Tresedder Sr. in Family Foods, the grocery store they formerly owned in Iron River. The senior Tresedder was a meat cutter who established the business’s reputation for quality meats, still a fixture at Crystal Fresh Market. Tresedder said they offer certified Angus beef.

SHERRILYN SHOWERS works at checkout at Crystal Fresh Market & Ace Hardware in Crystal Falls. (Jim Paul/Daily News photo)

Crystal Fresh Market also sells a leaner ground chuck that is ground fresh, not squeezed out of tubes. The meat cutters at Crystal Fresh Market & Ace can provide any specialty cut a customer could want, he said.

The meat department also makes their own porkettas, bratwursts and sausages. Crystal Fresh Market provides the bratwursts for the Bass Festival and Fungus Fest, for which they make a special bratwurst with mushrooms and onions.

Tresedder is also proud of the deli, which he said does a great job with the meats, cheeses and many salads they sell, along with chicken and prepared to-go meals. Another popular item in the deli are the pasties Nylund Pasty makes especially for Crystal Fresh Market — they are larger and have more meat than the traditional Nylund pasty.

Crystal Fresh Market likes to support the community that supports them, Tresedder said. Throughout the summer months, Crystal Fresh Market sponsors cookouts in the parking lot for Forest Park School District sports and activities. Upcoming cookouts have been set for June 28 for the Forest Park Robotics team and July 19 for the football team.

“Just like us, a small-town grocery store, a small-town school has limited resources,” Tresedder said.

CRYSTAL FRESH MARKET & Ace Hardware, 1363 U.S. 2 in Crystal Falls, is open 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. (Jim Paul/Daily News photo)

Throughout the spring, summer and fall, Crystal Fresh Market & Ace Hardware also has round-ups where customers can round up to the next dollar, with the money going for local causes. In November, the round-up will be matched by CoVantage Credit Union.

Crystal Fresh Market has 40 employees, some of them working there since Tresedder bought the store in 2006. Tresedder said finding and keeping employees is the biggest challenge the business faces, especially since 2020 and COVID-19.

“The store is only as good as the people — each department is only as good as the manager,” Tresedder said. “We do fill a nice niche for Crystal Falls, though, being a local grocery store. There are not many small stores left.”

Locally, Crystal Fresh Market & Ace Hardware does face competition from stores such as Family Dollar and Dollar General and even from larger grocery stores in Iron Mountain, but he believes service and quality at a fair price wins customers over.

“We pack your groceries and take them out to your car,” Tresedder said. “We are locally owned and support the local economy.”

Crystal Fresh Market & Ace Hardware is at 1363 U.S. 2 in Crystal Falls and is open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.