A grocery outlet in downtown Steinbach has doubled in size. Main Bread and Butter held a grand opening Thursday. Owner Chris Goertzen says they expanded in order to meet a growing demand for local products and have also added fresh produce. But he adds there is still a need for a larger supermarket in the downtown area to serve the many people who live in the central part of the city.

"Our store here will fill some of the need that is there but we can't fill all of that need. We're very pleased to help our customers find more products but we still continue to want to see a larger chain grocery store downtown to make sure that everyone has all their amenities they need, close to home."

There has not been a large grocer in downtown Steinbach since Extra Foods closed in February, 2013.

Goertzen notes, while Main Bread and Butter is now much larger, the focus has not changed.

"It was 20 years ago, this year, that we opened and it was about having local products for our community. There are so many products that are made locally that weren't finding a place in our local stores so we wanted to create that for the people in our community and also for the products that people are making in the community. It's a place to find local favourites and we also wanted to make sure that we were downtown because, we thought, that downtown is the place where people want to connect and build relationships and find products and shop."

Goertzen appreciates the tremendous community support they receive which has allowed them to grow.

"We started with one full-time and one part time employee and we are presently at almost 20 employees. It's really amazing to see how this has grown over the last 20 years. A lot of it has to do with our customers and a lot of it has to do with our staff, they do such a good job of connecting with people, working efficiently and making sure that product is fresh and available."