When Herb Edwards opened Edwards Meats as a small counter behind a friend’s fruit stand in 1962, Wheat Ridge looked almost nothing like it does today. Sixty-three years later, Herb’s grandson, Darin, runs the same family business, one of the few shops of its kind that has stood the test of time.
During a 1966 snowstorm, the Edwards family and their business partner, Abner Becerra, moved the business across 44th Avenue, and that same location still houses the shop today. Now in its third generation of family ownership, Edwards Meats is ruBy Darin Edwards, who began working there at the age of 10. “My dad had me start from nothing – he had me doing everything that we do here,” he says. “It really paid off in the long run, because I still know how to do everything, and I still get my hands dirty and can do what needs to be done around here.”
Those decades of experience inform how Darin runs the business today. They also helped carry the shop through harder times, including the early 1990s, when a smaller local population and a larger number of competing meat markets made staying in business difficult. “We just powered through it,” Darin recalls.
In the 1970s, Darin’s father, Ernie, expanded the shop’s capabilities by building a custom walk-in smokehouse. Darin later upgraded it to a stainless steel, temperature-controlled unit that still runs five nights a week, smoking the sausage, ham, and bacon that the store is known for. The bacon, in particular, is a local hit: Edwards Meats cures, smokes, and slices it all in-house using family recipes passed down across generations.
The smokehouse products’ popularity has made the smoker a core feature of the business, but Darin sees something else as the store’s biggest advantage. “We get compliment after compliment about how good our customer service is here, and it’s so awesome to hear,” Darin says, “because you go into so many other businesses, and it’s not even close to that.”
The personalized attention that customers get at Edwards Meats, with staff that tries to remember customers’ names, is increasingly rare in the world of modern retail. Darin and the team at Edwards Meats don’t take that for granted. “You’re lucky if you get somebody to speak to you in some businesses,” Darin says.
When the Coronavirus pandemic disrupted meat supply chains in 2020, Edwards Meats became an important resource for the Wheat Ridge community. With many larger grocery stores struggling to keep meat in stock, the Edward Meats team was quick to pivot. Darin sourced extra inventory early on and stored it in trailer coolers and freezers, helping the store maintain its stock while some other businesses had to shut their doors.
The surge in customers had a lasting effect. “That has gone a long ways to increasing our business since then,” Darin says, adding that many of the first-time customers from COVID have become regulars. “We had an outstanding year that year, and we have not had a down year since.”
To preserve a positive shopping experience for customers Edwards Meats limits entry during busy times of year, like the holidays, to 20-25 people. “It’s so people can actually walk around a little bit,” Darin says. “Sometimes it’s a little bit harder to move around in the shop if there’s too many people in there.”
Because Edwards Meats thrives on building trust with customers, keeping employees long-term is crucial. “Employees can be tough – tough to keep, and not have the turnover,” Darin says. “People have changed since I was a kid. They work differently. There’s a different mindset, and we’ve had to adapt to that for sure.”
Darin credits the store’s success to the managers and staff he’s worked hard to develop. “It took a long time for me to build this team,” he says, “and for me to be able to let go enough to let them run it.” Several key employees have been with the business for years, and Darin says that consistency has made a huge difference. “It’s been fantastic having those people to back me up,” he says.
The Edwards Meats story has always revolved around family, but passing that legacy on has become more complicated in modern times. “All my kids have seen how hard it is, and how much I work,” Darin says, “and I think that’s a bit of a factor. They’re like, ‘I don’t know if I want to do that my whole life like my dad did.’”
Darin hopes one of his daughters will one day take over the business, but for now, he’s focused on keeping things running. That means managing his team, maintaining customer relationships, and making the adjustments needed to stay competitive in an ever-changing world.
“It’s an amazing little store, just the story of it… how long we’ve been in business, and how well it’s doing, and how well it’s taken care of our families and the families that work for me,” Darin says. “I know my grandpa would be really proud, and my dad is too.”
Edwards Meats is located at 12280 W 44th Ave in Wheat Ridge. The shop is open Monday-Saturday from 8 a.m.-6 p.m. For more information, call 303-422-4397 or visit edwardsmeats.com.
