What's Up Missoula
Local businesses we'd send a friend to.
Missoula runs on its local businesses. These are the ones we know, use, and happily vouch for.
What's Up Missoula
Missoula runs on its local businesses. These are the ones we know, use, and happily vouch for.
WUM Recommends is an opinionated list — our honest take on businesses we've dealt with and genuinely like. Nobody pays to be here, and we only say nice things: if a business isn't listed, it just means we haven't written about them yet, never that we're against them. This list doesn't punch down.
Managed IT and cybersecurity for small and mid-sized businesses — 24/7 monitoring and help desk, cloud services, backups, and security training. A whole IT department for a fraction of the cost of hiring one.
Full disclosure: Fractional IT is run by the same folks who bring you What's Up Missoula — so yes, we're biased, and yes, we'd still hire them. Enterprise-grade support with Montana roots, zero hidden fees, and a real human when you need help.
Drain cleaning and repair experts serving Missoula and the surrounding area, available 24/7 — drain, sewer, and gutter cleaning, hydro-jetting, and trenchless spot repair (CIPP).
We've used them ourselves and they did a great job — clean, professional, and best of all, a reasonable price. When a drain backs up you want someone who shows up and does it right; this is that guy.
Bulk landscape material delivered — garden soil, compost, mulch, bark, rock, gravel, and sand. Everything is web-based: schedule online 24/7 (they even have a yardage calculator) and the truck shows up. Serves Missoula, the Bitterroot, and the Flathead.
Just the best customer experience you can ask for. Schedule your delivery online and bam — truck shows up and you're set. One hot tip: put down a tarp for the driver. Makes cleanup a breeze.
Independent outpatient medical imaging in Missoula and Kalispell — MRI (including breast MRI), CT, coronary calcium scans, low-dose lung cancer screening, and full-body screening, read by board-certified, fellowship-trained radiologists.
WUM staff have been patients here ourselves, and we can attest: genuinely affordable prices (around half of what the hospital charges), great staff who actually care, and top-notch facilities. Medical imaging without the hospital price tag — or the hospital experience.
A free weekly newsletter from Montana Free Press, Montana's independent nonprofit newsroom. Reporter Katie Fairbanks covers Missoula city government, public school meetings, business news, and local events — the stuff that actually shapes life here.
Real local journalism, free, from a nonprofit newsroom that answers to Montanans instead of advertisers. If you want to know what city council actually decided — not just what people are yelling about online — this is the newsletter to read. Full disclosure: the WUM team is a proud donor to Montana Free Press — we put our money where our news is.
Certified-organic farm growing distinctly colorful, seasonally flavored produce for the Missoula and Jocko valleys since 2010. Buy through a customizable CSA farm share, their online market, seasonal pop-up sales, or on the shelves of local grocery stores.
A CSA share from Harlequin makes eating your vegetables the best part of the week — genuinely beautiful, flavorful produce grown right here, and because the share is customizable you get what you'll actually cook, not a mystery box.
Grass-raised, grass-finished beef from a locally owned Missoula ranch practicing regenerative agriculture. Individual cuts at their Farm-2-Market store and online shop, plus custom beef orders (they sell out — email to join the waitlist).
Beef with a return address. Oxbow's aim is to leave the land better tomorrow than they found it today, and the beef that comes off that kind of ranching speaks for itself. The custom orders selling out every year tells you what Missoula already knows.
One-on-one sports and orthopedic physical therapy in downtown Missoula since 2015 — running injury rehab, bike fitting, pelvic health, vestibular and balance therapy, and strength classes, with a team of eight licensed DPTs.
Missoula is lucky to have some of the best PTs out there, and Endurance is the best of the best. Patient-centered, one-on-one care from people who understand athletes because they are athletes.
Nonprofit, community-owned movie theater on the Hip Strip — a diverse slate of new releases and classics, plus festivals like the International Wildlife Film Festival and the Montana Film Festival, and the Roxy Film Academy.
Love movies? This is your place. Premium popcorn and a lineup that mixes fresh releases with the classics — it's the place to go for movies in Missoula. Pro tip: What's Up Missoula lists the coming week's Roxy showings on our events page — link below.
Downtown running store, locally owned by the Brooker family since 2001 and celebrating 25 years. Road and trail shoes, track and cross country spikes, apparel, and the small stuff that matters — socks, insoles, hydration, nutrition. Every fitting starts with an in-store gait analysis and a conversation about your running history and injuries. They also put on a full calendar of local races, from the Snowbowl 15K and Blue Mountain 30K to the Runner's Edge Trail Series.
We made our first purchase here this week and walked out impressed. The store was slammed, and the staff still made sure every single person in there got helped — nobody was left standing around. They know their stuff, they take the time, and they don't rush you toward the most expensive box on the wall. Their email list deserves a mention too: they send when they actually have something to say, which is rarer than it should be. Not just us, either — they were named the best running store in America in 2019, out of more than 15,000 nominations.
Family dental practice on South Higgins, open since 2016 under Dr. Hank Jensen — a Montana native. Cleanings, fillings, crowns and bridges, implants, dentures, root canals, and extractions, plus cosmetic work (whitening, veneers, bonding), night and sports guards, TMJ therapy, and sedation for anxious patients. Emergency appointments available, and they're currently taking new patients.
We've been patients here for a decade, and it's hands down the best dental care we've had anywhere. Family-oriented in the way that actually matters — they know you, they don't upsell you, and they're one of the few Missoula practices still taking new patients. Montana-raised dentist, independent, no corporate chain behind it.
Northside taproom on Toole Ave with 20 taps — their own beer plus wine, cider, and seltzer — and a rotating food truck out front. Live music on the murphy stage Thursdays and Saturdays at 7pm plus Sunday Night Jazz at 6pm, Music BINGO Tuesdays, trivia Wednesdays, 'Rowler Mondays, and a first-Thursday Vinyl Night run with Ear Candy Music.
One of the most reliably fun rooms in Missoula, and a real anchor for the Northside. Live music three nights a week, a genuinely good tap list, and kids are welcome — it's a brewery that acts like a community space, which is exactly what we like to see.