HISTORY OF THE AXMEN

It was in the spring of 1973 when the Hanson’s from Ronan moved to Missoula and opened the Axmen. Bud Hanson had always dreamed of doing business outside of the box.
So, he sold his hardware store, teamed up with his two sons and bought a piece of Missoula. Bud’s approach to business has continued through the third generation and the Axmen is even more unusual today than it was in 1973. Bud had some novel ideas about business. Don’t sell the customer something he doesn’t need. If it isn’t the right thing to meet his needs tell him where to get what he needs. If you can’t sell something good, don’t bother. If you truly care for your customers’ best interests the money will follow. Your customers are your biggest asset. There are pictures of Bud and the boys near the coffee pot to help everyone remember his ideas.
Times have changed radically over the past 50 years, but some things remain the same. We started selling wood stoves during the first Arab oil embargo and we now sell, install and service wood, gas, and pellet stoves in western Montana. This was 15 years ago. Now at 50 years old Axmen has expanded the Hearth department and we now carry a full line
of hot tubs in addition to stoves. Our additional growth has included many other products including Central Boiler outdoor wood furnaces, off-grid appliances, irrigation pumps, fencing, gates, panels, livestock equipment and most recently we have partnered with Purina, and we carry a full line of top-quality Purina feed for all animals. With this partnership we were blessed to be able to expand Axmen Feeds to three other locations.
We are now in Columbus,
Lewistown, and Dillon, Montana.
Who knows where else we will end up!
As Missoula has grown and new businesses have interred, we have learned to be grateful for the opportunity they bring to us all. Montana has been good to the Axmen, and we try every day to be worthy of the trust that our customers place in us and to find new and better ways to meet their needs.