Thu Sep 11, 2008 11:58AM
I found out recently, just Monday, that The Market at Cutler Mills in Warren Rhode Island was closing. I was saddened by this as I had been there several times to "check out the competition." It was beautiful store, lovely prepared foods and in its first year seemed to be huge success. Why should we care if a competitor goes out of business? It comes down to fear and frustration. Being brand new business owners we have experienced the challenges of getting customers to recognize The Green Grocer as a place to shop, meet the customer’s needs, be a regular stop for those people and appear to be competitive with the big chain stores. Now more than ever with the economy being on shaky ground it's harder for the customer to make those decisions.Why should the customer make the choice to shop locally with independent businesses? That would take up an entire post in and of itself, the number of reasons are many. I believe they are worthwhile. Small independent businesses rely entirely on the communities they are a part of. Bottom line we need you, not as just individuals but as a community to survive, thrive and to give back to that community.Here is the sad article from East Bay RI....
WARREN — After struggling for months to cut expenses and generate sales, the Market at Cutler Mills will close its doors for good Wednesday.The store is holding a store-wide 40 percent off liquidation sale that began on Monday. Everything is going — even the decorative baskets and stuffed scarecrows that looked over the store.“People came here in tears when they heard we were closing. They were just really angry,” said Ed Pearson, consultant to the market.The store’s aisles were bustling Tuesday, reminiscent of a thriving market, while people tried to find whatever goods were left. The meats were the first to go, then the produce, then the perishables.“We’re racked clean today,” said Mr. Pearson.According to Marshal Williams, the market’s co-owner, closing was inevitable when sales started to slump in September.Currently the store carries about $500,000 of debt. Even though profits increased by 10 percent in the last month, there was not enough money to keep the store afloat.“The business will go bankrupt,” said Mr. Williams.He estimates that the customer base was actually large enough to support the store, but the basket size was not. The average amount each customer spent at the market totaled around $14. During the going out of business sale, customers spent about $50 a basket. He theorized that if customers had spent on average only three dollars more a basket during the beginning of the year, the store would have survived.“That’s a cookie or a bag of chips with your sandwich,” said Mr. Pearson.Price hikes in energy also added to the financial demise. National Grid recently increased the market’s monthly bill by $2,500.“Everybody’s been whacked by the economy, it just added insult to injury with the increased National Grid rates,” said Mr. Pearson.Mr. Pearson said he does not understand why locals travel to big supermarkets to get some of their items when they could have been bought at the market for cheaper prices.“I know a mother of five who travels to four different places to get her groceries. Between gas and time, how does that save money?”Mr. Marshall said he is frustrated that the local community did not do more to support the market. He monetarily invested in the store, hoping to give the community an outlet to support local vendors and farms. He’ll have to meet with lawyers soon to sort out the financial problems.“I don’t feel as though the store failed. I feel as though the town failed the store,” said Mr. Williams.