Polebridge Mercantile owners bring store back to Kiowa Junction

There hasn’t been a business at Kiowa Junction in years, but the new Kyiyo Bakery and Mercantile aims to fill that gap — including bringing back the junction’s famous fried chicken at the request of many locals. 

Kyiyo Bakery and Mercantile is named after the Blackfeet word for bear (pronounced “key-eye-oh” k̇yīyō) That’s according to owner Will Hammerquist, who has also run the Polebridge Mercantile with his wife Katerina for nearly 10 years. He didn’t have plans to expand the business, but when the opportunity arose to build something at the Kiowa Junction, he decided to give it a shot.

“This was an opportunity to expand and do it in a way where I saw real need. We're also kind of in a little bit of a food desert out here. There's a lot of cars that go by and we're at least 12 miles from the closest stores. And it's a busy intersection, so we saw it as an opportunity to do something that people could really enjoy,” Hammerquist said. 

Kiowa Junction is the area where Montana 49 (or Looking Glass Highway) meets U.S. 89 just west of Browning. The land was on the market for several years before Hammerquist purchased it after the start of the pandemic. There was a year of demo work, tearing down the dilapidated buildings that used to be a pit stop for many at the junction. The area was developed around the 70s or 80s and included a store where the current mercantile sits and a now defunct small amusement park across the street. 

The store is now selling fried chicken, in addition to other deli items, to pay homage to the former store — cheekily referred to as Kiowa Fried Chicken on shirts and stickers at the mercantile. 

Currently, Hammerquist and his team are building cabin rentals across from the mercantile, but remnants of the amusement park are still there, like a bumper boats pond where a beaver has now made a home. 

Living with the flora and fauna at the Kiowa Junction is a goal for Hammerquist, and he doesn’t plan to develop the sites larger than what the original footprint encompassed. It’s one reason why he chose the name Kyiyo, because bears, along with moose, foxes, elk and deer frequent the area. He’s also heard wolves howling nearby. 

The developed area of the property is around three acres, but the wild land of the property is over 100 acres. Eventually, he said nature trails will be created for people to enjoy.

“There's an incredible diversity of wildflowers too, so it’s a really special place. This is definitely a wildlife corridor. The wildlife comes up off Two Medicine Ridge, out of Glacier Park, and they use this little area here to work their way out into the river bottoms,” Hammerquist said. 

Working with members of the Blackfeet Nation was also a top priority, as the property is on the reservation and has historically served the community in and outside of Browning. The mercantile is selling Blackfeet made products, like bison jerky made from the tribe’s herd and jewelry made by local artisans. 

The tribe’s cultural preservation office gave Hammerquist the go ahead to use the name Kyiyo — as a way to honor the bear and also the history of the Blackfeet people in the area. 

“Working with the Blackfeet Nation on this project has been a real honor and having the support that they've given us has really been special,” Hammerquist said. “Hundreds of Montanans made this project happen. We had a lot of workers coming from Great Falls, we had a lot of guys come in from Kalispell. And so that's really just been a neat thing to see, so many Montanans come together to make this project happen.” 

Despite its distance from town, Kyiyo isn’t nearly as remote as Polebridge located on the west side of Glacier National Park. So, there are many aspects of running the east side business that Hammerquist said is much easier to contend with — like paved roads, easy connection to electricity and garbage service. 

Hiring for the location has been a bit different from Polebridge, too. Hammerquist said since the mercantile is close to Browning and its surrounding communities, it has a local workforce to pull from. This differs from the North Fork, where Polebridge hires mostly seasonal workers from other places. He said some seasonal staff was still hired for Kyiyo, and he was able to offer housing by renovating an old motel on the property. 

“It's gonna be a good mix. I think part of the fun is that exchange of someone who might be in college who's never been to Montana here, working with a cashier who's lived on the Blackfeet Nation their whole life, you know, that's a cultural exchange,” Hammerquist said. “We're having a lot of laughs and we're learning a lot. We're making some mistakes, but we're having fun while we're doing it.”

Still, Hammerquist sees a lot in common with his two stores. Both are surrounded by wilderness and aim to make their visitors appreciate a slower pace of life, he said. 

“I always tell my employees at Polebridge that our customers are having the best day of their life and you're a part of that experience, right?” Hammerquist said. “To have a bakery where you don't have a rush of people who are late for work at 7 a.m. is a very unique thing. So, none of this would be possible without our customers and their support.” 

The long-term vision for Kyiyo Mercantile is to have it become a destination for families, he said. Eventually, he wants to build a playground and put in picnic tables around the store, creating a place where both visitors and locals know they can make an enjoyable pit stop.

“I kind of feel it's a special area, when you look down you see the aspen grove, and it's always just been its very shaded spot. It's pretty protected from the wind, it's still windy, but it's not as windy as it can be in other places. So, it just sort of came to me that this could be a great place for people to come again,” Hammerquist said.

Kyiyo Bakery and Mercantile is now open seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Find more information at www.kyiyomerc.com. 

Reporter Taylor Inman can be reached at 406-758-4433 or by emailing tinman@dailyinterlake.com.