DEADWOOD - It's official. Deadwood will welcome a new grocery store business to the community in the near future.

Deadwood City Attorney Jason Campbell received an executed release of right of first refusal from Nash Finch on Thursday, Aug. 9, and although Campbell said preliminary steps remain to reach the final closing, he expects the papers to be finalized by early next week.

After buying the property and building of the former Decker's Food Pride, the release was the final component needed for the city to proceed with its lease agreement with Larry and Marilyn "Blondie" Woolston of Broadus, Mont.

The Woolstons, who will lease the 124 Sherman Street property from the City of Deadwood, are hopeful that the store will be up and running within a two-month time frame. With the city's release from Nash Finch in hand, Larry Woolston predicts the start-up process to move along quickly.

"Everything up to this point has been in the planning stage," he said. "We've had to hold off on physically doing anything until we knew for sure it was a done deal. Once it's official, we can go ahead and begin getting things installed and re-vamped."

The couple plans to make a number of changes to the building. Major additions within the store will be a bakery and a deli. The independent grocery operators also own IGA stores in Lemmon and Broadus, Mont. Although the Lemmon store goes by the name Lemmon's SuperValu, the Broadus store bears the name Larry's IGA, so the obvious name for the new Deadwood store was Blondie's IGA.

Larry Woolston says the prospect of getting the store up and running can seem overwhelming. In addition to a fresh coat of paint throughout the store, getting refrigeration units up and running after more than a month of being shut down and changing the computer system are his two main time concerns.

"Equipment ordering and getting all the licensing in place may slow up the process some, and the refrigeration units can leave a lot of unknowns, but the good thing is a lot can be done all at once," Woolston said.

But the retailer is mindful that a short time frame is essential.

"We know the longer a store sits, the harder it is to get business back," he said. "People in Deadwood are expecting for us to move along quickly."

Woolston estimates that Blondie's IGA will employ six full-time and 20 or more part-time employees at the business's opening. The couple hopes that within a year, sales of the Deadwood store will reach a volume comparable to the Lemmon store - and if that is the case, the total payroll would increase to 40 people.

"We don't want to be too optimistic, but we think that's a realistic volume," he said.

Woolston said that the unique position of owning and operating two stores in two different regions and in two different divisions of one of the largest grocery suppliers gives them an edge on purchasing options.

"It gives us the chance to 'cherry pick' our items," he said. "We can get real aggressive and pass on supplier-program allowances to the customer. We buy a lot of pallet deals, so we can get down and dirty with pricing."

Woolston says the customer is the most important factor in his business.

"I still really believe if you give good service and attempt to be competitive, the customers will respond," he said.