Joe's Parkway Market Is Closing. What Comes Next for Bozeman's College Street Block?

Anthony Tangaro first walked into Joe's Parkway Market as a Montana State freshman in 1984. Back then he came for what he called "easy junk food" from the shelves across the street from his dorm. When he moved back to Bozeman in 2000, he came for the wine selection, the high-quality foods and the owners. On September 4 he told the Bozeman Daily Chronicle that the empty shelves made him "a little bit misty."

Joe's closes for good "some time in early October," after 57 years on West College Street. The closing is timed oddly. The city has spent the past year redesigning the street in front of the store, and it reshaped that plan around the businesses on the block. The last open step is working out construction easements and access with the business owners. The largest property among them just changed hands. What the corner looks like over the next few years depends on two decisions that were still open in the latest public reporting: who takes over the Joe's building, and whether the city builds in summer 2027.

Fifty-Seven Years, Then a Sale

Joe's opened in 1969. The Chronicle describes it as a gathering point for the historic neighborhoods of south Bozeman and for MSU students and faculty across College Street. It was known for hard-to-find cheeses, meats and sauces, along with its seasoned prime rib, wine selection, charcuterie boards and holiday gift baskets.

Owner Tara Wantulok started at Joe's in 1998 as a college job. She later married Tyler Wantulok, grandson of the store's founder, Joe. She listed the pressures that wore the business down: the cost of living made it hard to keep employees, grocery costs rose, and keeping up a 70-year-old building on slim margins was hard. She also explained the problem with volume. Her loyal customers usually buy a handful of items, while large competitors push prices down. "I don't blame people for shopping at other places," she said.

The Wantuloks sold the land, the building and the business to Todd Waller, founder of Venture West Development. Waller studied at MSU in the late 1990s and says he shops at Joe's "all the time." He plans to renovate the building and add commercial space for more retailers, and his first priority is a local business that serves the neighborhood and the university. "I'd sure love to get another market in there, and I'm in some conversations right now," he told the Chronicle, describing "something similar to Joe's, just kind of the next generation of it." If no local operator works out, he said he would look for a regional market that fits.

When the Chronicle story ran, Waller had not named a tenant. Tangaro, for one, doubts it will be a market: "Call me a cynic: I don't think it will be a grocery store."

Nine Hundred Feet, Thirteen Driveways

Whoever moves into the Joe's building will open onto one of the busiest short stretches of street in town. City transportation director Nick Ross measured the block between 8th and 11th avenues at about 900 feet. It has 13 driveways, five alley and street intersections, roughly three dozen on-street parking spaces and about 8,200 vehicles a day. MSU's campus lines the south side and the businesses line the north. The city recorded video to see where people cross, and found more of them crossing mid-block than at the intersections.

"The location of the mid-block crossing between 9th and 10th serves to support the natural desire line of people moving between those areas, while also functioning as a really really helpful traffic calming feature." Nick Ross, City of Bozeman

Ross called the current pattern "frogger action." Joe's has been one of the places people were crossing to get to.

The Parking Fight Rewrote the Plan

In fall 2025, the city's first design would have removed 24 parking spaces on the south side of College to make room for a shared-use path next to the dorms. The business owners on the block objected. Jenny O'Brien, who owns the Pickle Barrel, said losing those spaces could push her customers into the Joe's lot or the small lot beside her sandwich shop. "That will cause friction," she said. Dave Lapinski, who owns the Exxon station on College and lives nearby, called the plan "pretty" but impractical. Commissioners sent staff back to talk with MSU about putting the path on university land.

The revised plan went to the City Commission at a January 13, 2026 work session. The minutes record a presentation, public comment and discussion, but no formal vote. The new design keeps the south-side parking and runs the path and a landscaped boulevard along the south edge. It also rebuilds the north sidewalk, adds a raised crosswalk with rapid flashing beacons between 9th and 10th, removes a few north-side driveway cuts and keeps the all-way stop at 8th Avenue. The project materials say MSU leadership supports an easement on university property that would let the south-side parking remain, but the public record reviewed so far shows support for the easement, not a signed document.

The parking Pickle Barrel and Exxon pushed to keep is staying. The driveway cuts the city wants to remove are on the north side, where Joe's sits.

Why Construction Slid to 2027

The project was on the city's 2026 construction list as recently as its April 1 announcement for the season. Then the schedule changed.

1. June 9, 2026. The city postponed bidding and construction for this summer. Final construction plans were complete, but the city was "still coordinating final construction easements and access with business owners."
2. The reasoning. Building with school in session and more foot traffic going to College Street businesses would make construction more disruptive and put completion within the season at risk.
3. This winter. The city will decide whether it can schedule the work next summer in a way that fits with the Kagy Boulevard construction closure.
4. Current listing. The city's capital projects page says construction has been "postponed to Summer 2027." The contractor is listed as TBD and the budget as $2,465,800.

The June update was posted before the Joe's sale was announced. The easements and access the city still needs to settle include the north-side driveway work, so whoever controls the Joe's parcel will have a say in that process. That person is now Waller, while he is also deciding on a tenant and planning a renovation and expansion of the building. If both projects move ahead on their stated timelines, a new market could open in the same stretch of years that the street gets torn up and rebuilt. Neither timeline is fixed yet.

The Neighbors Holding the Block

Wantulok told the Chronicle that the whole three-block strip "needs a little bit of love." She said she believes in the current and future business owners, the neighborhood and the MSU community to keep it alive.

Two of the anchors that remain are about as old as Joe's. The Pickle Barrel opened in 1973. Ken and Carrie Olsen took it over in 1974, and this is its 52nd year on College Street. O'Brien has run it for 24 years. In a Bozeman Magazine profile published September 1, she described adding about 10 seats where the shop used to serve Wilcoxson's Ice Cream. The shop also has outdoor seating and picnic tables on campus. Colombo's Pizza & Pasta is still taking orders at 1003 W. College St.

These are the businesses that pressed the city on parking last fall, and their feedback is reflected in the redesign. For the next stretch, Joe's will sit dark beside them while its future is decided.

Where Joe's Staples Are Stocked for Now

No single store copies Joe's. Several shops around town list the departments Joe's customers relied on, according to each store's own site or recent local coverage.

The Town & Country on South 11th Avenue is the closest full grocery on the list to the Joe's corner. Check hours on each store's site before you go, since some of these pages carry older material.

The next updates to watch for are a tenant announcement from Venture West and the city's winter decision on construction. The city posts College Street project updates on its Engage Bozeman page, and project manager Taylor Lonsdale is listed as the contact on the capital projects page.

If you live near College Street and want to know how a new tenant and a 2027 rebuild could change daily life on your block, Everdawn Charles follows these south-side changes closely and is happy to talk them through. Discover Montana Living. Contact Everdawn.