Tomahawk Ambassadors welcome Walker’s General Store to community

TOMAHAWK – We are Traci and Stan Walker, the new owners of Walker’s General Store, formerly Standard Mercantile. We want to thank you, Tomahawk, for welcoming us to your lovely community.

Our main reason for moving here was to be close to our daughters and grandchildren. With that, we had a desire to be a part of a small, loving community that supports one another and fosters growth. We were in need of restored health and overall peace in our life.

Our daughters met and married their husbands in Wisconsin and settled in Tomahawk. We have been visiting this community and surrounding areas for many years now, and we found ourselves loving it more and more each time we visited. We have met so many amazing individuals that are supportive, kind, encouraging and faithful.

My husband and I grew up in a small, family-like community, and we have missed the relationships and genuine connections it provides after living in a bigger city. We moved here from Eugene, Ore. Although we are going to miss some aspects of our previous life, we moved here for a different opportunity and to live a healthier life.

The last number of years have been particularly challenging for my husband and I. All four of our children became independent adults with their own lives, we experienced career changes, financial strain, health issues and the loss of so many important members of our family. Our life was busy, beautiful, chaotic and everything we thought it would be…until it wasn’t. We needed a big change, and we are excited for this new season of life.

We bought the Standard Mercantile because we loved the store and made sure we stopped in every time we visited. We loved the environment of shopping here and that it was a family-owned and operated business. When we started the process of buying this business, it did not feel like a possibility. A shared dream that we never had imagined could be possible was starting to take flight.

Of course, there were challenges; however, we pushed forward and continued to pray that God’s will for our life would prevail, and here we are!

 Our goal in this business is to be solid members of the community – meeting local needs, building a proud and successful business that promotes Tomahawk and to be a location where tourists come and make lasting memories. We want to help grow Main Street and support other local businesses. 

In our efforts to improve and grow this business, we have already expanded the sales floor to accommodate more products and a space for children to enjoy the store. We have many new ideas that we will slowly incorporate into the store to increase our customers’ shopping experience. We are excited for what is to come, and we look forward to sharing each step with the community.

We do appreciate all the feedback and suggestions we have received so far. We are invested in making changes that benefit all members of this community and provide a variety of products.

Thank you to Jennifer at Main Street for all of your help, guidance, kind words, and friendship. You are a true gem!

We also want to thank Karen, Cindy and Pam for their years of service to this community. We cannot thank them enough for trusting us to take on the business that they had built from the ground up and invested so much blood, sweat and tears in for so many years. You helped us and held our hands through the transition to ensure it was successful and smooth. We will be forever grateful for this opportunity.

We plan to build a lasting legacy here in Tomahawk and a foundation for continued generations to come.