Family-owned Marky's Meat Market expanding to Cheyenne!

Marky's Meat Market Coming soon sign posted in window - Optopolis

Marky's Meat Market plans to take over Wyoming Ranch Foods' Cheyenne location on East 19th Street just east of Warren Avenue, and Marky's hopes to open their new location in the coming weeks!

Glance at the history

As discussed previously here on Optopolis, the building where Wyoming Ranch Foods resided was built around 1947 according to the property assessor. Winters Griffith Architects shared with Optopolis in 2022 that the "warehouse" long-ago used to be a carriage barn and that (also long ago) a very early occupant of the property was Warren Livestock Company.

TOP: Pony X-Press | BOTTOM: Minuteman Press - Google Maps Street View

In more recent years, the building has been occupied by Pony X-Press Printing Center and, later, Minuteman Press. In 2021, Winters Griffith Architects set up their offices in the east part of the building, leaving a vacant tenant space that they could potentially rent or lease to a Jane or John Doe.

In June 2022, Torrington-based Wyoming Ranch Foods set up shop in the space. WRF had opened by August 2022, roughly a year after opening their Torrington store. They sold meat (such as steak) in addition to various products from other businesses including Sour Cowboy and Cowboy Cuts.

Wyoming Ranch Foods self-standing sign sits on sidewalk outside their store when it was open - Optopolis

Unfortunately, the Cheyenne store was rather short lived. Although WRF's website still lists the Cheyenne store, the Cheyenne store is no longer open; it closed between September (based on a WRF Facebook post) and October (confirmed in this comments section) of 2023.

Various Cheyenne residents shared in the comments of an Optopolis Facebook post that they were having problems with the store (i.e. lack of inventory and high prices among other issues). Some (including at least one person who lives nearby) shared with Optopolis that they didn't know the store existed!

"Wyoming Ranch Foods is no longer here" sign posted in front door, seen in late 2023 - Optopolis

The closure of WRF left Winters Griffith Architects with a vacant meat shop space for which they wanted to find a new tenant. It wasn't clear what was going to happen with the space until more recently.

Marky's Meat Market of Gering shows interest in Cheyenne store

In a pass by the former WRF space in early February 2024, it was discovered here at Optopolis that Marky's Meat Market, a family-owned meat shop based out of Gering in Nebraska (seen below), had posted a "coming soon" sign in the window of the storefront.

It turns out that by January 25th, Marky's was already officially looking toward a Cheyenne location, saying that they "have very exciting news coming" for their Cheyenne and Front Range customers.

Their current location in Gering, Nebraska just south of Terrytown (which is just south of Scottsbluff) was started in December 2005 according to Star Herald. According to a list of items posted to their Facebook page, Marky's offers all kinds of products including Beef, Pork, Chicken, Hot Dogs, Bacon, Sausage, Bar-B-Que, Lamb, Salads, Seafood, and even a few Misc items.

Becky Colling and owner, Brody Gies, begin assembling frame of a shelving unit - Optopolis

Last weekend, one of the two owners of Marky's, Brody Gies, along with various friends and family members were actively beginning to prepare the shop for the new Marky's location.

Although there was interest in opening sooner, Marky's Meat Market shared with Optopolis that they plan to open their new Cheyenne storefront on April 1st, 2024, assuming all goes well in the process of setting up the new shop.

A view inside the window of the new Marky's storefront - Optopolis

If the planned opening date changes, Optopolis will update this page as soon as possible, and you can also follow Marky's Meat Market on Facebook for updates on this topic.

They are still coming, but will Marky's open on the 1st?

People have been asking about this, and it has also been a question here at Optopolis, so let's ask around. According to both Marky's and Winters Griffith Architects, Marky's still has some governmental/background stuff to take care of before they open the Cheyenne store.

This "governmental stuff" is stuff that, bottom line, is necessary to take place so that they can "transport products across state lines," as Marky's said in a recent comment in their latest Facebook post at the time of writing. Monday, April 1st (their goal-date set back in February) is right around the corner--only four days away at this point, the time of the second article update.

The hard part is obvious: there's not a solid answer to if they will be able to open on April 1st. If they were to open on April 1st, they would have to stock all their products and finish preparing their space before they could open. If and when there's more certainty as to how things will go and what day definitively will be their open date, this article will be updated again.

Do you currently visit Marky's Meat Market in the Nebraska Panhandle? What are your thoughts of Marky's opening a Cheyenne location? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

Originally published: 02/21/2024 at 10:04 AM MT

Updated: 02/21/2024 at 1:20 PM MT to fix a typo; the photo showing the construction of a shelving unit said "Mark Gies" instead of "Brody Gies." Both Brody and Mark do own the business.

Updated: 03/28/2024 at 2:59 PM MT to add new information about Marky's opening.