MILFORD, Neb. (KOLN) – The owners of Main Street Market opened a new location near the end of January, that is twice the size of their previous building. The owners designed it to honor both sides of the Bontrager family.
“(My daughter) obviously, she wants to take over the store someday, and then obviously, she’s a part of both of us,” said Craig Bontrager, who owns Main Street Market with his wife Karen.
The south side of the building resembles stores from eastern Mennonite communities in Pennsylvania, where Karen is from. Since Craig grew up in Milford, the storefront looks like a Midwestern barn.
“There’s no other grocery store, and it’s great,” said Charlotte Roth, Craig’s aunt and an employee. “I’m seeing and finding out that it’s a great gathering place for people to come in, since there is a place to eat.”
The Main Street Market sells groceries, home decor, Nebraska-made products and goods from Amish companies. There’s even aisles for toys, cookware, produce and Amish furniture. In Pennsylvania, there’s hundreds of stores like this one.
“So my mom was raised near Pennsylvania, Amish country, and we still have all of our family out there,” said Celia Bontrager, store manager and Craig’s daughter. “And I have just always loved these stores. It’s actually always been my dream to own a place like this.”
Neil and Lucina Burkholder opened the Main Street Market in 2015. Celia worked there alongside her great-aunt Charlotte, who she calls “Aunt Char.”
“One day, she came home, and Char mentioned the owners were wanting to sell the store,” Craig said. “And that was our chance.”
The Bontrager family bought the Main Street Market in 2021. A majority of their products are either local or from Walnut Creek Foods, which is based in Ohio.
“It was probably within a couple months after we started up at the old store that we realized we were probably going to be out of space pretty soon,” Craig said.
Within about five months, the Bontragers built and opened a new store, along Highway 6. They built it in the place of a car dealership.
“In defense of the old building, it was never meant to be a grocery store,” Craig said. “I remember it as a lumber yard when I was a kid, so it didn’t quite have the space and electrical hookups that we needed.”
Inside, the Bontragers hung up windows from a dairy barn that Karen grew up with, and they used wood from a barn nearby to build the deli.
“My mom kind of does the décor side of things,” Celia said. “And my sister lives in Virginia, but she does all of the social media.”
The Main Street Market is as much a part of Milford as it is a part of the Bontrager family.
“We realize that in our position by the highway, we are the gateway to the community,” Craig said. “And we want to support the uptown businesses as much as possible.”
Until the store is passed to Celia, Craig hopes that expanding will help them keep sharing the “good ol days” with Milford.
“We’re going to have the drive-thru at some point, so people could eventually come through to get their soup and sandwich and maybe some groceries to make it more convenient,” Craig said.
Main Street Market will celebrate its grand opening during the week of March 17-22 at their location at 115 US-6 in Milford. The store is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays.
Click here to subscribe to our 10/11 NOW daily digest and breaking news alerts delivered straight to your email inbox.
Copyright 2025 KOLN. All rights reserved.
Dining and Cooking