Star Emporium Downtown General Store owner Bill Michaud announced the closing of the store after four months on a May 5 post on its Facebook page.
The store is located at 17 S. Main and featured grocery store items and a deli.
Starting today all items in the store will be 20 percent off, then Friday and Saturday-40 % off, then Monday-60 % off.
“It’s an awful feeling for something that I had such high hopes to make a difference in the elevation of the retail climate downtown to be shut down so quickly,” Michaud told fortscott.biz. “The perishable inventory and low sales level pushed us to this.”
Michaud is working on a new chapter of the storefront in downtown Fort Scott, though.
“We certainly hope that Fort Scott comes out and helps us liquidate our inventory this Friday and Saturday,” Michaud said. “We will be closed on Mother’s Day and most of what’s left will be offered for sale at 60% off on Monday.”
“We are very hopeful that all perishable and frozen items are purchased so that we can shut down the refrigeration equipment,” he said. “IF our sale is successful, Monday will be our last day open.”
“We will open the deli and sell sandwiches on Monday to utilize as much deli meat and cheese as possible but the salad bar will not be open.”
“We will keep our regular hours during the sale – 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.,” he said.
What is on the horizon for you at this storefront?
“Since its inception, this project has been about aiding the growth of our downtown, addressing the limited food access in this part of the community, and giving local producers a place to sell products,” Michaud said. ” We’ve done all those things, but we have unfortunately learned that our business model was not financially sustainable.”
“Because this project was funded in large part by the SPARK grant (A COVID-19 relief grant) funding that we received, we have always viewed this as investment in the community, so we have an obligation to figure out a different business model that is sustainable and still helps us with the objectives set forth by that grant program.”
Food Producers Co-Op
“The new model we are working to put together will be more of a producer’s co-op type format,” he said. “We are looking for people who produce products of all types in our region that are looking for a marketplace.”
“We will begin hosting producer meetings soon and form a co-op model together to create that marketplace at the store,” Michaud said. ” There are still more questions than answers on how this will come together but we will navigate the questions together with the producers to create a model that the group feels will be sustainable and beneficial for all involved.”
“We’re getting more community involvement in hopes that we can attract more broad-based support and offer more products that people will go out of their way to buy than was offered in the previous grocery store model.”
Licensed Commercial Kitchen
“Our current deli will become available as a licensed commercial kitchen in which space may be reserved for co-op members, as well as others, to rent in order to produce products that are able to be sold to retailers.”
“Currently there is no licensed commercial kitchen available for use in our community for small quantity producers or that can be used as a food-based business incubator,” Michaud said. “This opportunity will allow someone to start small and develop a base business prior to expanding into a larger space such as a restaurant, bakery, or other food production facility.”
“With great resources in our community such as the Center for Economic Growth on the second floor of the (Star Emporium) store and the Chamber of Commerce E-Community loan program, we hope to continue to pursue the economic impact goal that was one of the purposes of the SPARK program.”
Ok, now that we have established that this was not a “viable” business model, what next? The idea was to supply and serve the downtown residents with a convenient grocery style venue. Yet you did not have a decent business plan that would have sustained you for 1 year. That is a basic tenet of startups. Now you have unemployed workers, unpaid vendors, and customers with no service. Not good! Not well planned! Lets hope your next venture is not a bust either.
Bill put a lot into trying to make this work and the community should be thankful for his efforts. Since you seem so critical of his attempt to help the community, do you have an example of something from your own life that is a better model to follow? If you work a government job, it is probably going to be hard to understand the level of effort required to launch a business and try to get it to succeed in the market.
Facts:
20% of small businesses fail in the first year
By the end of the second year, 33% are gone.
Five years yields a 50% failure rate.
Two-thirds are out of business in 10 years.
I commend Bill for investing his time, talent and treasure in Fort Scott; and BTW, it is not over. He is simply adjusting the business plan. Failure is not fatal, it is an important part of the American capitalist experience.
Really sad to hear about the grocery store closing.
It was a nice place to shop.
Wishing the new business success.