While the Sibanye Stillwater layoffs have changed the lives for hundreds of workers, it's also meant adjustments for businesses.
Absarokee has been a stopping off spot for miners commuting to and from Nye.
Two busineeses near the intersection of Highway 78 and Nye Road have seen the effects of the layoffs.
But they're concerned for the miners who have been laid off.
“You know, that's a miner,” said Stillwater Bar & Grille owner Jackee Taylor, as she showed a video. “That's the fiber optics guy and he's whooping him for his birthday. Boys being boys here. This is what my bar used to be.”
Taylor said a birthday party happened, four days after a friend of many of her customers had died.
“Probably one of the most beautiful days that I've ever experienced in my life as a human being,” Taylor said.
Taylor has owned the Stillwater Bar & Grille since February of 2023, naming it after the Stillwater Mine.
“I wanted them to all know that this is their spot,” Taylor said.
Before the layoff, she opened at 5 in the morning, seven days a week.
Now she opens at 4 in the afternoon.
A lot of her business came from the nearby cabins run by Jason Moran and she affectionately called those 100 miners who were her customers, the Moran guys.
Now, they're gone.
“It's turned my world upside down, that's for sure,” Taylor said. “But like I said, I'm just business. That's their life.”
Across the intersection, the Rockin' J convenience store has a near empty parking lot without the miners.
“I know all their kids and have known them forever,” said Carol Martin, Rockin' J manger. “And so I was grandma Carol for most of it.”
The Rockin' J is a typical mine shuttle bus pickup point and Martin says the business will survive thanks to farmers, ranchers, and tourists during busy times, but she will miss the miners.
“Your heart hurts for them,” Martin said. “You feel bad for them. It's not just the miners. It's the whole family and you don't wish that on anyone.”
Martin says in December, miners who live in Red Lodge will have to catch the bus in Absarokee.
Taylor still has some of her regular customers and says she will find creative ways to stay open at what she considers a community gathering place.
“Even if I have to close my business doors for a while, I'll figure something out,” Taylor said. “But I'm set. My roots are already planted. I'm not going anywhere.”
