For many years, the Whitefish Liquor Store general manager Jen Hurlbert always knew when manager Jared Zuege was in the building because her schedule, held by magnets to the wall near her desk, was crumpled and on the floor. The cramped office was not spacious enough for the team and the boxes of liquor that resided there. 

The entire store was proportionally as small as the office space. In fact, there were no shopping carts, only a pull basket for customers, and walking sideways in the store was de rigueur. In total, the store covered 3,600 square feet and had six parking spaces. 

This fall, the Whitefish Liquor Store moved several blocks south to 1010 Baker Ave., the former location of Big Mountain Glass, with a whopping 13,000 square feet of space, two floors, two entrances and 30 parking spots.  

Even more remarkable, according to state rules, the move had to happen in just two days.  

The store’s dozen employees and a moving company rose to the occasion. 

"We closed on a Saturday at 3 p.m., worked all Saturday night, Sunday, Monday. Legally, I had be open Tuesday,” Zuege said. “We had to move 127 pallets of liquor, and that's not including wine. 

"How we crammed that into that old little store is insane,” he recalled. “Some of those shelves and stuff there were four stacks high. It was nuts.” 

The new sales floor is vast, with aisles wide enough for shopping carts. The wine section, curated by Cameron Bond, is extensive and wide ranging, and the store stocks a myriad of liquor and cider, too. 

“This all became a whole section of grab-and-go drinks,” Zuege said, gesturing to a row of refrigerated cases full of a variety of cocktails. “It used to never be a thing. People love to just grab and go on the river.” 

Zuege said things are skewing toward more healthy drinking, a trend that is easy to see in the beer industry, with rice lagers and lighter brews. 

“Same with alcohol. People are drinking lighter,” he said. “Tequila was like a non-section, I would say, when I first started at the liquor store 10 years ago.” 

Now, the store will soon offer an entire section of mezcal. The store will also take special orders. Zuege said if a customer wants something the store doesn’t carry, they should let the cashier know and, as long as he can get it in Montana, he’ll bring it in. 

Another new feature is for bourbon lovers – barrel picks. 

“With barrel picks, there are three things you can do,” Zuege said. “You can have just the master distiller pick you out a barrel, which is fine and dandy, but it's not very much fun. Or they can send you a sample kit. Or you can actually go visit the distillery, wherever it is, and pick out your own barrel. So, a lot of people do them in Kentucky.” 

The crew at the store has personally tasted all the bourbons in the section and are adding to the collection. Zuege got to name each of them: Grand Opening, in honor of the store’s move, The Hottest Hog in Town, The Wolf that Raised You, and one misnamed Identity Crises. 

"It was meant to be Identity Crisis, but I screwed up the spelling so it’s Identity Crises, but it makes sense because it’s finished in a cognac and sherry barrel,” he said.  

The store’s cigar selection will soon have a much bigger case and a display of glassware and gifts are conveniently located near the north entrance. 

In the storage space in back, there are two large garage doors, one for local delivery trucks and vans and the other for the 18-wheelers from Helena that restock the store. The space allows the store’s delivery van to park indoors and load up, a perk in inclement weather. 

The proper loading dock means boxes no longer need to be schlepped in, one at a time. They now have a pallet jack and a “bad boy” pallet elevator, to make receiving day a pleasure. 

Each pallet weighs about 2,500 pounds. A new steel I-beam supports the second-story floor, so it can hold 65 pallets. 

“When summer starts, to supply the town for Titos liters, I need to buy eight pallets to have enough for the whole town,” he said. “In the old store I could only have two. That's all we could fit.”  

The employee break room and office spaces are also upstairs. 

“I had so much booze in my office,” Zuege said of the old space. “Now, I actually have a proper office that doesn't have booze. It's nice.”

While Hurlbert could have office space upstairs, she chooses to work at a desk in the corner of the back storeroom for a particular reason, and one that may be at the core of the successful business. 

“We're communicating all day long. I’m communicating with the person that's filling the orders, with all the staff,” she said. “It's so necessary. I kind of feel like if I was upstairs, I would really lose touch with a lot that's going on.”