GREENFIELD — The Massachusetts Economic Assistance Coordinating Council has awarded the Franklin Community Cooperative $300,000 in state tax credits toward its plans to expand Green Fields Market into the ground floor of the former Wilson’s Department Store on Main Street.
The co-op’s ability to move into the building by its 2027 target opening relies heavily upon the success of an eviction filing against the building’s sole retail tenant, Cleary Jewelers, whose lease expires in 2029. Outreach & Communications Manager Caitlin von Schmidt said the Franklin Community Cooperative is confident the project will move forward.
“We’re really confident that things are heading in the right direction and that we’ll have a resolution soon. We are working on our funding and planning to go forward,” von Schmidt said. “We are feeling we’re in a good place. We think things are moving in the right direction and we’re confident that we’re all going to be happy at the outcome.”
MassDevelopment acquired the Wilson’s property, which spans from 242 to 250 Main St., in 2022 with plans to expand and relocate Green Fields Market into the building’s first floor, while turning the upper floors into 65 mixed-income rental apartments.
The $23.4 million project, according to the Economic Assistance Coordinating Council, will allow the co-op to increase its total retail space and is expected to create 20 new jobs.
The co-op reported in February that its sales fell “significantly below plan” over the second half of 2024, with losses of roughly $50,000 per month. Von Schmidt attributed that loss to higher prices caused by a lack of space preventing the co-op from buying goods at a bulk scale that would lower prices. She said the co-op plans to double sales with the expansion.
“Part of our issue is that we don’t have enough storage for product, so that affects how much we can buy, which means that we can’t buy at a scale where we can get cheaper prices,” von Schmidt explained. “We’re going to also be able to offer more price points in the store, which will also make us more accessible to the community.”
Von Schmidt added that the move would triple the co-op’s floor space and provide five times more backroom space, increasing the market’s kitchen, storage and bakery capabilities.
“We’re going to have a beautiful new community room that has a teaching kitchen that will be available to the community,” she said. “We’ll be able to contribute in a much bigger way to the local farm economy, the local producers from which we buy. We’ll be adding jobs. All the extra people going to the store is going to mean additional foot traffic downtown, helping the general economy and other businesses downtown.”
Von Schmidt added that the co-op is renovating the building with “enabling work,” such as installing steel bracing throughout to comply with modern-day seismic codes.