Edwards Meats - Full Service Meat Market

ent to begin his journey Herb traveled on weekends to pour concrete, build a cooler, and buy the necessary equipment needed to construct what began the infamous Edwards Meats. The Abner's-Edwards relationship proved to be beneficial for both parties. The two then decided to make even a bigger move. The businesses were growing by leaps and bounds so a new location was a must. During a snowstorm, on October 30, 1966 Abner's and Edwards Meats together moved from the north side of 44th to the south side, which is the present location; 12280 West 44th Ave. Herb's son, Ernie Edwards, worked side by side with his father to build a quality store to include products such as U.S.D.A. prime and choice aged beef, pork, poultry, fresh seafood, buffalo, elk, venison and a large variety of sausages. In March of 1974, the father-son team built a smokehouse to accommodate the demand for home-smoked products and further increase services offered to their customers. This then allowed them to produce even more products to the inventory, including their own bacon, ham, smoked turkey, fish, and sausage. In 1977, Ernie took over the business. Then through the years, several of the Edwards family contributed their services. This included Ernie's son, daughter, brothers, sisters, an aunt, a cousin, several nieces, nephews and now a couple of his granddaughters. Ernie was one to offer personalized service and quality meats as the business continued to increase it's customer base. But as time has passed overseeing every facet of the business was quickly becoming hard to handle with large volume of customers and mass production. Ernie turned to his son, Darin, to help take over the day to day needs. Now, Ernie's son, Darin, has been enthusiastically working at the store since he was six years old. After attending college for a couple of years, he realized he knew more than they could teach him about operating a small retail company and he wanted to keep the family store alive. In 2001, the father-son duo, remodeled and expanded the store from 2000 sq. The expansion has been essential to accommodating their growing customer base. Service counters were expanded, huge freezers and a new stainless steel smokehouse were installed as part of the transformation. New customers are discovering what long-timers have known for 45 years. In addition to the superior meats, the family now offers fresh produce, daily baked breads, gourmet foods, spices, seasonings, marinades, hardwood charcoal and a variety of smoking chips. The staff of 14 gladly assists customers with cooking tips, recipe ideas, and instruction for making your own sausage and smoking meat. The latest craze available now is the Louisiana based "turduckin." This a turkey stuffed with a duck, stuffed with a chicken, all with an incredible stuffing in between. On top of this mouth watering entrée they sell 5,000 pounds of luscious prime rib during the holidays.