Join us in warmly welcoming Meredith and Clay Diers, the new owners of Chopwood Mercantile. Learn a bit more about them and their vision for the future of Chopwood, below!

Tell us a bit about yourselves.

Clay grew up in the Dallas area while Meredith is from outside Oklahoma City. We met in college in Oklahoma and since getting married, life has taken us from Oklahoma City to Lexington, Kentucky to Portland, Oregon and finally here to Crested Butte!

What inspired you to put down roots in the Gunnison Valley? 

The number one thing that inspired us to put down roots here was the people. From the first time we came and visited the Valley/Chopwood, the people have been welcoming, friendly, and open. We also fell in love with everything that CB/Gunni have to offer as well as the simpler pace of life. Living in big cities has its perks, but both of us feel at home with a slower pace of life and respect for everything around us. 

The last thing that really drove it home for us was Chopwood itself. Travis and Lisa are amazing, salt of the earth people and the vision they used to establish Chopwood is very similar to the vision that we had when we talked about one day having our own store/business. 

"The number one thing that inspired us to put down roots here was the people."  

What are your plans for Chopwood? 

Our plans for Chopwood are to carry forward the spirit that Lisa and Travis have given it. Our goal is to make it so the only way anyone knows there has been an ownership change is by seeing our faces. Some of the reasons we fell in love with the store is the relaxed feel, being a true mom and pop business, and people being able to pop in and just chat while seeing what the latest shipments have brought to the store. We want to help give people the warm, welcoming feeling that so many others have given to us since we started on this journey.  

What are you most looking forward to about living in Crested Butte?

The people, the countless adventures at our fingertips, the food, the weather, the true four seasons, Chopwood and its continued role in the community, the list goes on. There is no one specific thing that we can put at the top of the list! 

"Our plans for Chopwood are to carry forward the spirit that Lisa and Travis have given it."  

Describe your favorite day in Crested Butte (so far). 

As cheesy as this will sound, our favorite day was the day we got into town and finished unloading the moving truck. Once we finished unloading and took a step back from everything, we knew we were exactly where we were supposed to be and we had that feeling of being home that we hadn’t felt in quite some time.

As Chopwood founder Travis Underwood explains, "We could not be more excited for them to continue the legacy." Welcome to the Chopwood family, Clay and Meredith!