Al Truscinski has worn many hats while he and his wife Val have owned River’s Edge Bait and Convenience in Greenbush—including the electrician, plumber, heating and refrigeration guy, and the man who trapped minnows for the store.
“I’m 58 years old… I’ve went through many different growth spurts at the store, and pretty much did all the work ourselves, you know,” Al said. “We didn’t hire out a lot. I managed to do most everything and all repairs on my own, and I’m just tired. It’s time for somebody, you know, to take over and maybe take it to another level.”
With that said, the Truscinski family sold the store to Dhaval (David) Divyesh, Dipen, and Amit Patel on January 29, 2024—doing inventory and closing on it that day. The Patel family from the New London-Spicer (Minn.) area own other businesses, other stores and share a common grocer with River’s Edge.
“We prayed a lot and I say our prayers were answered,” Al said, “that I think there’s… this good family coming into the community to do, you know, hopefully good things and carry on our traditions.”
It ends a run of exactly 20 years, 6 months, and 26 days, as noted on the electronic sign monument Al and Val stood in front of on their final day of owning River’s Edge Bait and Convenience. Al has been there for the day to day and Val for the behind the scenes, but now they’re ready for that next chapter.
Going back, on June 3, 2003, Al and Val did inventory with the store’s previous owners, Boze and Shelly Kern, and officially took over ownership from the Kerns that day. On the morning of June 4, 2003, the Truscinski couple opened the store fully under their ownership. Previous to the Kern’s ownership, the Wahl family owned the store, building the original store that stands today.
During the 20 and a half years, the Truscinskis have implemented many changes and improvements to the store. Notably, they gave the store a facelift in 2009, remodeling, putting an entry on, installing new pumps and tills, updating their cashier systems, and putting up the electronic sign monument. They also added much pavement over the years Al worked to make the store more truck-friendly, building a drive around the store and parking for trucks—a project done over time as they could afford and as Al had time. The last big improvement came in 2019—when the Truscinskis were close to paying off the store. That year, Al came up with a plan to put in diesel islands.
“We were never branded by any station,” Al said, “and… I asked Val, I said, ‘I think it’s a good time where we need to brand with somebody and give the store a facelift.’” He added how the store canopy and other things were starting to need updates. That’s when they decided to do a contract with Cenex. From that point, they put in diesel and premium gas, what Al referred to as a “big deal.” He did all the groundwork—excavation and tank installation— for the project under the supervision of Minnesota Petroleum.
He said this was a scary time, setting them back financially, but he felt these changes were needed to keep up with the times and keep people coming to their store.
Maintaining the store’s reputation as the place with quality bait meant so much, as did having good food for the community and their road traffic. He complimented his staff-- good people working in the delifor making the latter possible.
“It all went together,” Al said. “They could stop for the minnows, stop for the food, get their necessities, gas and license.”
Speaking of staff, Al said they will miss the employees they have had who cared about the store. He highlighted three employees who had been with the store for some time—Amanda Wilson, Loralie Lorenson, and Judy Morlan. Wilson and Lorenson have been with the store 18 to 19 years, Morlan for between 10 and 11 years. He also mentioned Tracy Gonzalez, an individual who left the store about a year and a half ago after a 17 to 18-year run.
Their employees were not just loyal individuals, but family. They shared many hugs and tears in the final days leading up to the sale. These employees were informed well ahead of time of this sale’s potential. Two years ago, at Christmas time, Al and Val told their staff that they needed to make a plan to sell. They didn’t put the store up for sale at that point; it was just verbal communication.
He will also miss all their fishermen, loyal people who said, “This is our stop,” commonly saying River’s Edge had the best bait and the best food. As for the former, Al doesn’t plan to step away from persevering that tradition quite yet.
“As I told people coming through… you might see me because I’m gonna still try to supply the store with minnows,” Al said. “I’m gonna still trap and, you know, I told them it’s very important to keep that tradition going because that’s something that people look for.”
More or less for seven days a week throughout his life owning River’s Edge, Al said he was at work. He and Val didn’t take many vacations during that time. He appreciated the support his family received from those in the community upon hearing of the sale news, recognizing the family for its work with the business.
“We’ve had many phone calls congratulating us… and they knew how much work it took to put, you know, what really went on to make the place go,” Al said. “Because if you let your guard down and you just walk away, you can see it and it only takes days. It doesn’t take weeks or months. It just, it’s amazing how fast it can fall apart if you’re not on your toes.”
As Al said, this sale is not retirement, but he hopes a new chapter. It’s also a time to retrain his brain, previously occupied on knowing what needed to be done for the store on a specific day.
“I’m sitting here telling myself, ‘No, I don’t have to do that, you know. I don’t have to do that today,’” Truscinski said. “And I got to really train my brain and not to worry about having to drive down there, you know, several times a day back and forth if I had to work on something for the store, at home, in the shop.”
Now, he looks forward to doing the things he enjoys at heart, including being outside and running equipment. He’s had job offers and has been talking about buying his own excavator for jobs, the chance to just worry about himself as his own employee. The Truscinskis also look forward to more time with family.
Their oldest child Madison recently had a baby, Cameron—Al and Val’s first grandchild. Madison and her husband want to move here from Washington state to start a family, and Al is excited in a couple weeks to help them get their home ready for the market.
Looking back, Al said they were proud to serve a community he has lived in all his life. They were also proud to have helped, mentored and been a second mom and dad to the many young people who have worked for them over the years.
He thanked the community, area schools, and those from afar for their support. They were so proud to have served them all on a consistent basis-- never having been closed on those full days.
“We were closed for hours, but we were there for gas, food, everything for the community, to be able to be open during storms and different things,” Truscinski said. “And I’m super proud of that, that we were never closed. We were able to hook up a generator and keep things going.”
They are proud to see all their hard work, their legacy left at that store. It had always been a place he dreamed of owning, something he told his wife back when they first heard it was for sale. Why was it a dream? He was such an avid fisherman and hunter.
“I didn’t realize that it was going to actually ruin my fishing and hunting because… I had to cater to the fisher and hunter as I took ownership of the place. And I didn’t realize that at the time, other than the relations I’ve made over the years with those type of people because I could relate to them,” Al said. “… I’m actually enjoying some ice fishing right now, believe it or not. And, you know, that’s what I want to really enjoy and to be able to take my grandkids camping, and fishing, and hunting and not have to worry about, you know, my store again. I’ll worry about me and my family.”
