Snack and gift shop offers wide variety

L and S Snacks & Gifts offers a little bit of almost everything.

The gift and food shop downtown is true to its name — you can pick up or assemble a gift basket or grab a drink and snack to go, or — for visitors — find a Montana souvenir.

Les and Susan Russell opened the shop on Railway Street across from Depot Park after moving here from Colorado.

“We have been searching out local suppliers and products that tourists and people want,” Les Russell said. “We want to be a high-quality gift store.”

There truly is a mix of everything in the store. There’s huckleberry products and wooden signs with funny sayings. There’s olive oils and beef jerky. There’s coffee cups and knickknacks that say Montana. There’s plenty of candy and in the back you can grab a soda or for 25 cents buy a cup of coffee. There’s also wind chimes and wine glasses.

The store seems well suited to those looking to create a gift basket. There’s plenty of items to choose from small enough to fill a gift basket with a selection of meats and cheese for the foodie or bath products and a candle for those that need to relax.

“You can find all these things, but not in one place like this,” Les said. “And you can put it in a gift basket.”

The couple says they moved to Whitefish sight unseen after looking for a place to live with a lower cost of living than where they lived near Denver. Les was in the locksmith business for 30 years so he’s familiar with running a retail shop.

“I grew up in a small town in northern New Mexico and wanted a small town that was similar to the way I grew up, but a little more in the mountains,” Les said.