SEELEY LAKE — The closure of Pyramid Mountain Lumber has left the people of Seeley Lake devastated.
“Almost sickened. Kinda heartbroken, and concerned and worried about the future," is how Rovero's general manager Kyle Marx puts it.
Rovero’s has been the center of the town for over 30 years, serving the mill and tourists alike for all their fuel, food and general hardware needs.
The store — like Pyramid Mountain Lumber — has been family-owned for all of its 30 years in business.
Marx took over the business from his father seven years ago, and in that time he has overseen its day-to-day operation, where a large part of the business that came in was from the mill.
Much like the rest of the town, Marx is worried for a future that doesn’t include the mill.
"The closure is going to hit us kinda throughout all the store. It’ll affect fuel sales, it’ll affect food sales, it’ll affect all our other inside sales," Marx said.
"Definitely, we got tourist business here but, through the winter time they’re what helps keep us open," he added.
While the announcement of Pyramid Mountain Lumber's closure came as a surprise, the reasons for why were not.
Todd Johnson mentioned in his interview with us that the lack of labor was one of the main reasons why they had to close their doors.
To Marx, this came as no surprise, as he has been facing the same issue for years.
“We’ve been fighting labor shortages for as probably since I took over. Probably a good seven or eight years we’ve battled finding people to work here. Basically having zero applications a good amount of the time.”
The reasons behind these labor shortages, according to Marx, stem from two main sources.
The first is housing, which is an issue that has plagued the town for years. The second is the price of living in Seeley Lake.
Whether it is food, fuel, or general repairs, he stated that everything costs more because everything has to come to larger towns, and with the price of shipping and sending people out, it adds up quickly.
With the higher cost of living associated with Seeley Lake, Marx said he has a hard time seeing a solution to keeping the mill open — even if the housing situation was figured out.
With this in mind, he has to envision a future without the mill and what that might mean for his business.
“You know all we gotta do is keep an eye on trending sales. It could come to cut labor here if there is that impact on sales," Marx said.
