SHELBY — Jim Gwirtz learned how to raise cattle, hogs and chickens while growing up on a farm.
Gwirtz, 85, said this upbringing taught him how to cut meat at home. At age 16, he began his first job at an IGA grocery store in Tiro. After that, Gwirtz worked as the meat manager for Great Scot Supermarket in Shelby.
He began to receive inquiries about butchering and processing beef — which launched an operation out of Gwirtz’s garage. This snowballed into running a family business which has now been around for 53 years.
Gwirtz Foods opened at 5001 State Route 39 W. in Shelby in 1973 in a building constructed by the family.
“We started selling meat when we built the store. We had to put the meat counter in and we did all that in one shot. Then we just kept rolling along,” Gwirtz said.
Gwirtz and his wife, Eileen Gwirtz, 84, have spent the past five decades operating the family business — which has become a staple of the Shelby community.
While weighing retirement, the husband and wife originally listed the business for sale in August 2025 through Dzugan Real Estate. But two members of the Gwirtz family recently decided to embark on a new endeavor.
Mark Gwirtz, a son of Jim and Eileen, and Taylor Gwirtz, a granddaughter-in-law of the owners, made the news official on Jan. 9 that Gwirtz Foods would be staying in the family.
This news received a warm reception on social media with more than 1,000 likes on the business’s Facebook post sharing the update. Minor changes to store hours, along with a few new additions to services and offerings, are on the horizon for the market’s next chapter.
A family effort: Where Gwirtz Foods has been
While Jim Gwirtz still worked at Great Scot during the day, his wife said he would come home and begin a night shift in the garage.
Many friends and family members were “faithful,” Eileen Gwirtz said, helping with odds and ends to keep the garage operation running smoothly.
Their son, Mark Gwirtz, said he can vaguely remember the garage. He would have been around 4 years old at the time.
Jim and Eileen Gwirtz have four children together, three boys and a daughter.
In 2008, the couple lost their son Gary Gwirtz at age 41 after a 2.5-year battle with cancer. After his passing, his mother said she and her husband both began working harder on the family business.
“We just both worked a little harder and kept pushing. And here we are yet,” Eileen Gwirtz said. “Our family has been terrific and our employees, we’ve had so many good employees.”
Customers of the business have also remained loyal over the years. Along with the familiar faces of local regulars, Gwirtz Foods draws customers from around the state as the number of local, independent butchers appears to be declining.
Jim and Eileen Gwirtz have watched generations of customers come through their market.
“They’ve always been so good (to us). They’re more like friends,” Eileen Gwirtz said.
The next chapter: Where Gwirtz Foods is going
Since marrying Jim and Eileen’s grandson, Evan Gwirtz, Taylor Gwirtz said helping her grandparents-in-law into retirement came organically.
Moving forward, she will be managing the market’s office and front-of-store operations.
“I’m still working on learning the ropes and everything. But I have great people to learn from,” Taylor Gwirtz said.
One of the first focuses for the future of Gwirtz Foods is some updates to the market’s infrastructure, including the computer system, and increasing the amount and variety of local products offered to customers.
“The next step is daily lunches, which we hope to be serving here,” she said. “There’s lots of exciting things coming down the pipeline for Gwirtz Foods. We’re very excited, just one step at a time.”
Mark Gwirtz will continue leading the meat department, with about four-plus decades of experience. His son, Josh Gwirtz, also works at the market.
Along with the market, the Gwirtz family operates a large grain farm — about 2,000 acres to be exact. The two passions — the market and farm — played a factor into originally listing the market for sale.
“We just kind of went through a time as a family of, ‘What comes next?'” Taylor Gwirtz said. “It took a little bit of time for us to come around to the idea of us continuing (the market.)”
As some of the family’s younger generations have continued to assume more responsibilities on the farm, Mark Gwirtz said it’s created a bit more time for him to focus on the market.
“There’s going to be bumps in the road, but we’ll deal with them as we go,” he said. “It’s going to be a good thing.”
Uplifting and supportive messages from the market’s customers have also provided encouragement for the family as a new chapter begins.
“It’s still going to be the Gwirtz Foods everyone knows and loves,” Taylor Gwirtz said. “We’re just bringing it up to times and doing some changes to accommodate our area and the demands of what we’re hearing from our customers and what they’re seeking.”