Holt it right there!
Hi-Country Market has it all in Big Pine.
Chris Holt is the owner of the Big Pine Mobil gas station, convenience and hardware store known as Hi-Country Market and Hardware. Locals will also tell you he is a very nice guy and one of the hardest-working people they’ve ever met.
The convenience and hardware reflects Holt’s work ethic. The store was remodeled a few years and expanded. A beer cave was put in—the first in the Owens Valley. Everything was brought up to earthquake standards and solar panels installed on the roof.
Holt wants to have the best place in town for locals and visitors to come to for gas, food, and hardware.
Holt didn’t start out with the goal of being a small business owner. When he graduated from high school, he went to an auto mechanic school and once he completed that, he worked at a gas station as a mechanic in Mammoth Lakes. Around 1975 his dad, a local Bishop distributor, came home one day and announced that he had bought a gas station and motel in Big Pine. He asked Chris to manage it. Then his dad bought another store in Wilkerson. So Chris went from being an auto mechanic to managing two stores, a gas station and a motel—the Bristlecone Motel—for ten years until they sold the Wilkerson store.
Chris eventually bought out his dad and has been running things for 35 years. He’s the one that wanted to expand the food selection and add in hardware. Although his dad wasn’t real supportive of the hardware idea, Chris eventually prevailed and started out by buying a few things. Problem was, shipping was ridiculously expensive, so Holt would drive south out of the county to pick up his order. He still does his share of driving to pick things up. Many local residents have seen Chris offer to get something that he doesn’t normally carry, go pick it up in Bishop or wherever he needs to go to get it, and have it at the store for them.
“I listen to what my customers want or need and that it just how it works,” says Holt. “If I don’t have it; I’ll offer to get it for them.”
Ernie and Sandy Magana, owners of the Big Pine Resort Cottages and Magnum Builders Construction in Torrance, offered their opinion of the local store: “We are amazed at how many things we have been able to purchase at this one little local but well-stocked store without having to resort to driving to Bishop for hardware!”
In addition to long hours, Holt says it is expensive to run a gas station with constantly changing regulations or upgrades to meet customers’ expectations. He is preparing to spend up to $100,000 to completely replace the 15-year-old gas pumps he currently has. He’s also looking into either a brand switch on the gas or possibly going with unbranded gasoline to provide more affordable prices to customers. Holt observed that “Gas stations on the reservations don’t have to meet state and federal regulations which means they can offer low gas prices, which seems unfair, but that’s the way it is and I will do whatever I have to do to be a responsible business owner that respects our environment.”
Hi-Country Market and Hardware is located right off the 395 highway in the center of Big Pine. It has convenience foods and sandwiches, sundries and of course, hardware.
