On Friday morning at the Great Falls Development Authority’s (GFDA) ‘Ignite Great Falls’ event, a Geraldine native announced a new business coming to downtown.
Drew Hicks is the owner of Central Avenue Meats, which will be a craft butcher shop located at 420 Central Avenue.
The butcher shop will include dry-aged meats, cut-to-order products, unique sausage and bacon flavors as well as local and ethically-raised products.
Hicks grew up in Geraldine and went to college in Missoula with a marketing degree.
After college, he moved to Denver where he originally had a marketing job, but ended up changing fields and working at Whole Foods where he got into the butchering business.
He then moved to Brooklyn, New York to do a 3-month apprenticeship at a butcher shop.
After his apprenticeship, he moved to Colorado Springs where he worked in a steak house/butcher shop.
He later moved back to Montana, where he most recently worked at Vaughn Meats getting experience in the local processing field.
Hicks said he wants his new business to have the flare of an old-school butcher counter.
“So we want to be a part of the community. We want you to know us and we want to know you and how you want your meat cut and we would like to do anything kind of custom for special events or anything like that. We just want to be a place where you can come and get exactly what you’re looking for in the meat department.”
He also wants to bring high quality meat at an affordable price to his shop.
Hicks added there’s a lot of local agriculture in northcentral Montana, especially animals.
“I see a lot of that shipped out of state and a lot of the meat we eat here shipped back into the state,” he said.
He plans to start construction on the building in March or April and to be open for the Christmas Stroll so people can fulfill their holiday orders.
Along with Central Avenue Meats, two other businesses are planning to move into 420 Central Avenue.
Hicks said they most likely will begin construction in March or April and the names of the businesses will be announced in the future.
