Longtime 'right hand man' buys S-B grocery store

Suttons Bay grocer Dave Hansen and his wife, Leslie, have retired and sold their business, Hansen Foods, to longtime employee Gus O’Brien.

Gus O'Brien and Dave Hansen

“Dave and Leslie wanted me to have this business because they knew I would keep it going the way it is,” said O’Brien. “They offered it to me first; and I’m very grateful for that.”

Closing documents in the sale were signed Monday. Neither party disclosed the sales price.

“The good part about being king is that I get to choose my successor,” said Dave Hansen. “I’m real happy that Gus is getting this business. He was our first choice. He is a part of the store and made it what it is.”

O’Brien, 51, served as store manager and Hansen’s “right hand man” for 14 years, nearly since the day Hansen established the business in 1993.

Dave Hansen, 54, is originally from Hart, where his parents still own and operate a grocery store. Hansen said he sold his house there, cashed in his Individual Retirement Account and took a” leap of faith” in starting his own grocery store in Suttons Bay.

In 1999, a fire destroyed the original, 4,800-square-foot Hansen Foods building just west of St. Joseph Street (M-22) and south of Fourth Street in the Village of Suttons Bay – an area which had become known as Hansen Plaza.

After rebuilding the original store, Hansen purchased an 8.1-acre parcel to the immediate south where he developed a new 15,000-square-foot store plus several adjacent commercial condo properties. The current Hansen Foods building has been open since 2000.

Following Monday’s sale of the Hansen Foods building and the business, Hansen still owns a small parcel of land at the southern end of the property. Hansen said he plans to develop a multi-use commercial building there, which he will offer for lease as office and retail space.

Earlier this year, the Suttons Bay Village Council approved an extension of Beach Street across M-22 leading along a utility easement and into the southern end of Hansen Plaza. Hansen said a southern entrance to Hansen Plaza directly off M-22 will alleviate traffic congestion on Fourth Street and bring more customers to the plaza, with Hansen Foods remaining as the plaza’s “anchor.”

“Most people who pass through Suttons Bay don’t even know all these businesses are here,” Hansen said. “Another entrance off M-22 will be good for everyone,” he said.

Dave and Leslie Hansen’s immediate plans for the future will involve taking some time off from work and some travel.

“We have a little motor home and we’ve never had the opportunity to travel,” Dave Hansen said. “Until last year, we’d never even been to Cedar because the Polkafest is during our busiest time of the year.”

Since 1993, Hansen said, he and his wife have routinely worked from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. at the store seven days a week. Last year, they started taking one day off per week.

O’Brien said he’s been keeping nearly the same hectic pace – and expects to step up his efforts with the Hansens’ exit from the business.

“I’ve always worked 65 hours per week myself, but I expect I’ll work more,” O’Brien said. “The store is in great shape and we have one of the best staffs we’ve ever had.

We plan to keep that small-town feel. All we need to do is keep the place clean and keep it open; but it’s going to be a busy summer,” O’Brien said.

He added that there will be a staff party or two in coming weeks to say goodbye to the Hansens, but that a larger community-wide celebration will be planned sometime after the busy season.

“Dave always said to me: ‘Someday, Gus, this will all be yours.’ And now it is,” said O’Brien.

Dave and Leslie Hansen have two sons and a daughter ranging in age from 23 to 29.

Posted on a wall in an office at Hansen Foods is the saying:

“In the grocery business, it’s accepted that one measure of a man’s success is raising a son with enough sense to go into another line of work.”

Dave Hansen said he’s happy to report that he’s met that measure of success, at least.