In Troy, many establishments seem able to resist the inertia of time. Long-standing businesses can last generations if managed properly, while new businesses can prove difficult to sustain.

Tyann Hermes, Troy resident and owner of a pair of Main Street businesses, must think time is on her side. She has grabbed some of the oldest businesses in town — such as the long-standing True Value Hardware and Kootenai Drug store and the long-shuttered Husky gas station — and made them new again.

In February, Hermes was honored with the Montana Ambassadors Entrepreneur of the Year award, marking her success in bolstering the business community in Troy.

“I think it’s an inspirational thing for people to see,” Hermes said. “If you want to do something, put your mind to it. Anybody can create things and make them happen and put some effort into it.”

Hermes has lost track of the hours used to build and balance her two ventures in Troy. Since Hermes took over the drug and hardware store with her ex-husband, Chris, in 2000, the building’s front facade was remodeled with log pillars to reflect Troy’s historic industry and identity in the Cabinet Mountains.

Her most recent venture, Shakti Soul Yoga & Movement studio, transformed a boarded-up fueling station into a center for relaxation and meditation.

She said that part of her own soul, the small-town kid who left and came back again, felt that anything was possible in a town of such support.

“Being in a small town is good because there are those connections,” she said. “We donate a lot in the community and it spreads out. They support you and you support them.”

Hermes left Troy after high school, and a degree in design led her to Portland. Her then-fiance, Chris, was working as a pharmacist. Through those small-town connections, someone reached out to the Hermeses in 2000 hoping they would return to be the new owners of the hardware and drug store. They obliged.

“It was a wonderful opportunity. It was a no-brainer,” Hermes said. “Chris was established there and I was flexible.”

Hermes remembered the True Value and Kootenai Drug from her past; she said she went to high school with the son of the previous owner. The store opened in 1990. Back then, she didn’t think of the store as a hub of the community, just the place where she saw everyone who needed hardware or medications while she was shopping with her parents.

“But moving back and realizing how much of an impact it does have on the community — that’s what’s beautiful about a small town,” she said.

Six years after taking over the store, Tyann and Chris completed a full interior and exterior renovation. While the hardware and drug store was becoming a busy place, the stress of the effort began to weigh on Hermes. She began traveling to Sandpoint, Idaho, once a week for yoga classes and to find her spiritual center once again.

After a few years of driving over a state line for yoga, she decided the time was right to test the yoga waters in Troy. She picked the vacant Husky gas station on Main Street for her space and began taking classes to become a yoga instructor. It was a literal case of “one good thing leads to another.”

“If I didn’t have the store and wasn’t so stressed out, I wouldn’t have the yoga studio,” Hermes said. “I’m a very creative person, so it’s nice to have that offshoot.”

In 2013, Shakti Soul Yoga & Movement opened its doors and floors to the Troy community. The old white exterior is now yellow and the tattered tile floor now hardwood. People show up for the same reason Hermes first sought to experience yoga in Idaho, she said — finding that spiritual center.

“It’s creating the space and allowing people to come in when it’s good for them,” she said.

Hermes hosts three classes a week at the studio and volunteers hours to teach yoga at Troy schools for “yoga days” a few times a year. She said she hopes to let the hardware store begin to operate itself without her, so she can offer more time to yoga.

“The hardest part is not trying to do it all,” she said. “I want to do more teaching, but I don’t have enough time to do it all right now, so I’m working on that balance.”

Executing the balance between the hardware and drug store and the yoga studio in order to boost Troy’s business community is what earned Hermes the nomination for the Montana Ambassadors Entrepreneur of the Year.

In February, Hermes traveled to Great Falls to accept the award, and delivered a speech thanking Troy residents for supporting her unexpected adventure toward a new city staple.

In April, she said the award was a tangible reflection of the work invested in her hometown during the last 16 years.

“In a way, it’s seeing the qualities that I do have, the creative energy I put in. It’s great to have that reflected back and I think everyone can see that too. It wasn’t a quick jump,’” she said. “It makes me smile.”

Reporter Seaborn Larson may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at [email protected].