The struggling Leverett Village Co-op is at the tipping point of dissolution. As reported Oct. 31 in this newspaper, the combined grocery store, convenience store, package store, bakery and cafe finds itself $200,000 in debt. The co-op, said Susan Lynton, president of its board, needs more shoppers. People love the idea of local retail, but the proof is in the patronage. “This store cannot survive without the community buying. We need to get a certain amount of people shopping and eating.”
It’s a dilemma faced by any number of local establishments in Franklin County. Readers may remember a similar appeal by the owners of World Eye Bookshop a few years back, who said, “Buy books, or bye-bye.” They’re still here, but others are not.
If you live in a small town, consider yourself fortunate if you have a grocery store, diner or gas station. If you have all three, you have won the small-town trifecta. The challenge is to keep them. Northfield, for example, used to have all three until the owner of the town’s last remaining gas station wanted to add a convenience store with a doughnut franchise drive-through. Horrors, said some. Now that site is a green field and Northfield — which at one time had four gas stations on Main Street plus one in West Northfield and one on Northfield Farms — will never again have a gas station.
Local retail is part of what makes a town special. In Leverett, the co-op was one of the reasons Jeff Lacy and his wife, Liz, were drawn back to the region after living in Hawaii, becoming life members. “We’re so attached to the place and all the friends we see,” Lacy said. “I’m pretty terrified about losing it.”
Lacy said members and the larger community can save the co-op. “We need to demonstrate we’ll do some real grocery shopping there,” he said. Many don’t want to lose another local place, he said, citing the closing of the restaurant at the Deja Brew Cafe & Pub in Wendell in 2017.
Back in 2015, local business owners joined forces to revive what is known as the 3/50 project, a national movement that encourages members of every community to choose their three favorite local, independently owned businesses and spend $50 a month or $600 a year in them to keep local economies healthy. Mary Walsh-Martel said that if every person in Greenfield spent just $50 a month more than he or she already spends downtown, and did so in some of their favorite stores, business owners wouldn’t have to face the decision of possibly having to close. “The 3/50 Project will remind people that they’re contributing to the local economy every time they spend in a downtown store,” she said.
That’s still a good idea. Your money is powerful. Whether you consider yourself rich or poor, the dollars you spend make a difference in the economic landscape.
So if you value Greenfield’s downtown anchor, Wilson’s, then shop there. If you value the historic downtown theater, Garden Cinemas, then go see a movie there and buy some popcorn. If you value local co-ops like Green Fields Market and the Greenfield Farmers Co-operative Exchange, then shop there. If you value our family farms, then buy Our Family Farms brand milk. If you value local news, then subscribe to the local newspaper.
We’re just saying, think before you spend.