The Story Behind What We See: Three Generations and a Grocery Store That Grew With Bagley

For generations of Bagley residents, a trip downtown has meant more than filling a grocery cart. It has meant seeing familiar faces, exchanging a few words at the checkout and taking part in the everyday conversations that make a small town feel like home.

Galen’s Fresh Food Market has long been part of that rhythm. But the store is also part of something larger: the story of a family that has grown alongside Bagley, adapted through changing times and continued to invest in the community for nearly four decades.

That story began in 1986, when Galen Leintz purchased Clearwater Supervalu in Bagley from Dennis Fonkert.

The store was humble by today’s standards. The building measured only about 3,500 square feet, and the aisles were so narrow that shoppers used undersized carts.

Yet that small store marked the beginning of something lasting.

It was not simply the purchase of a grocery business. It was the first step in building a family’s life in Bagley — one customer, one conversation and one day of hard work at a time.

A year later, Galen’s son Greg and his wife, Marsha, moved to Bagley. Greg went to work in the store’s meat department, while Marsha began working at Clearwater County Memorial Hospital.

Their arrival marked an important transition in the store’s early history. What had begun as Galen’s new business was becoming a family endeavor, with Greg and Marsha building their own connection to the community while helping shape the store’s future.

Through their work, relationships and daily presence, the Leintz family began putting down roots in Bagley. The store may have started with narrow aisles and limited space, but it quickly became part of the wider life of the town.

As the years passed, the family’s connection to Bagley deepened — not only through the business they operated, but through the people they came to know and the community they chose to call home.

In 1992, the business took its first major step toward becoming the store residents would recognize today.

The building immediately south of the grocery store had been home to Francis Floral Shop. The Leintzes purchased the building and demolished it, making room for an addition that doubled the grocery store’s size to approximately 7,000 square feet.

The expansion gave the store more room, but it also reflected something larger: the family’s belief that the business had a future in Bagley.

That same year, Greg became the store manager.

Ten years later, in 2002, Galen was ready to retire. Greg purchased the business from his father, continuing the family tradition. The name changed slightly, becoming Galen’s Supermarket.

The business was no longer simply Galen’s store. It had become Greg and Marsha’s store, while still carrying the name and legacy of the family member who had started it.

The next major transformation came in 2018.

For generations, the building next door had been home to Bagley Mercantile Hardware, owned and operated by the Lee family. Dave Lee was the owner at the time, and when he was ready to retire, Greg and Marsha purchased the business and building from Dave and his wife, Cindi.

The nearly century-old building had reached the end of its useful life. Rather than simply renovate it, the Leintzes made a much larger decision: They demolished the building.

Working with their team, including Greg, Aaron Leintz and Kyle Crist, they expanded the downtown Galen’s building to approximately 10,500 square feet.

For the first time, the combined property also included a parking lot.

The expansion brought groceries and hardware together under one roof, creating Galen’s Fresh Food Market & Hardware Hank.

It also marked another important milestone. Greg and Marsha’s son, Aaron, became the store manager.

The third generation of the Leintz family was now working in the family business in Bagley.

In 2022, another significant change took place in Bagley’s grocery history.

Keith Kubiak sold Kubiak’s Family Foods to Duke Harrison of Mason Brothers, a wholesale grocery company based in Wadena.

For the first time in Bagley’s history, a grocery store was no longer locally owned and operated.

But that would not remain the case for long.

On March 1, 2025, the Leintz family purchased Kubiak’s Family Foods from Duke Harrison. The first day of business under the new ownership was March 3.

Almost immediately, work began remodeling the store inside and out, transforming it into a new Galen’s Fresh Food Market.

At the same time, another transformation was taking place downtown.

The original downtown Galen’s location was being converted into Galen’s Do it Best Home & Hardware/Express Food Market.

Kyle Crist, who had taken a hiatus from Galen’s for several years, returned to the team to manage the downtown location.

In 2026, Galen’s is celebrating its 40th anniversary.

Forty years is a long time in any business. But perhaps what makes this story especially meaningful in a small town is not simply the number of years. It is the continuity.

Galen started with a 3,500-square-foot grocery store and narrow aisles.

Greg eventually took over from his father.

Then Aaron became the third generation to carry the family business forward.

Buildings have been purchased and demolished. Stores have expanded. Grocery businesses have changed hands. Hardware and groceries have shared the same roof. Eventually, the family returned to the Kubiak’s location and created a new Galen’s Fresh Food Market.

Through all those changes, one thing has remained remarkably consistent:

The Leintz family has continued to invest in Bagley.

So when you walk through Galen’s today, you are not simply walking into a grocery store.

You are walking through a piece of Bagley’s living history.

And perhaps that is the real story behind what we see.