Mike Kloster has remained a fixture as a butcher in Newmarket for more than 30 years.
He said he has seen second and third generations of families visit his store, Kloster’s Butcher Shop on Yonge Street. Kloster said he has seen plenty of change in his customer base, but quality service has kept him running.
But the days behind the counter are behind him. Kloster is retiring and handing off the business to his daughter. With that, the family is also closing the Newmarket location, and consolidating the business at its Aurora location on Industrial Parkway.
“I’ve met a lot of people. I’ve enjoyed the business side of it,” he said. “Really it’s just talking with customers, hearing about all their stories, hearing about all their backgrounds, their families and everything. Real family thing.”
Kloster said he started out in the butcher field 48 years ago. After training as an electrician but finding it difficult to get work at the time, he took a job as a butcher in a grocery store and gained an interest.
He said he trained and found enjoyment on the business end of it, causing him to want to open his own store.
“That’s really what kept me going. That and the customers,” he said. “Being a butcher is rather unique in a lot of respects … Butchers know all the muscles of the cow, not just some of the muscles, and how to make money on different muscles.”
Kloster would go on to open up in Newmarket and eventually added a second location in Aurora, gaining a loyal customer base over decades that continues today.
“The success comes surely from quality and customer service. That’s the two biggest things we’ve always had all along,” he said. “Lots of times it’s difficult to keep quality up because of rising costs of everything ... but it works for me.”
The business has changed over the decades. While the butcher used to be a regular stop for groceries, Kloster said that in the past five to 10 years, there have been more cooks and “foodies” looking for special meat.
“It was a much bigger interest in cooking food,” he said.
In that time, Kloster also trained his daughter, Hailey Kloster, in the business.
“I was really pleased to see she took just the same interest in the business as I did, as far as learning how to do the trade and seeing how money was made with the meat. She’s become very business-minded and very good with her job,” he said.
The younger Kloster said she grew up immersed in the store and decided to take it on.
“I did think about other things. When you grow up in something and it’s all you know, you can just very easily fall into it. It was the best decision,” she said. “I know all the customers, I know all the staff, I know all your suppliers.”
Although they have run two locations for years, the Klosters decided to move everything into Aurora as a business decision. The family said with difficulty recruiting help and commercial rental rates being expensive, the move made business sense.
“If I was paying rent here (in Aurora) and paying rent in Newmarket, and I lost one of my main butchers and have to close a store, I’d (still) have to pay rent,” Hailey Kloster said. “It was a high risk just carrying on.”
Still, the community has reacted to the closure of the longtime Newmarket butcher shop location. A Facebook post about the closure garnered more than 150 reactions.
“So sad that Kloster’s Butcher Shop on Yonge Street in Newmarket has closed,” one resident said on social media. “ We will miss it.”
The younger Kloster said they really appreciate all the support they have received since the announcement.
“It was a big shock to a lot of people,” she said. “From the first week of us here, it was amazing to see how many of our Newmarket customers have come down … We were really uncertain about it, but it was great to see.”
The elder Kloster said that as a handyman, he looks forward to doing carpentry projects, working outdoors and doing some travelling.
He expressed appreciation for all his customers.
“All of our customers make our day. All of our customers make it so we can continue doing this business. They’re just everything to us,” he said.
“We’re going to be around for a long time,” his daughter said. “In the future, all we want to do is grow, and get bigger and impact more people.”
