Владельческий магазин Village Mercantile в Саранаке-Лейк закроется в конце сентября

After fifteen years in operation, a community-owned store in Saranac Lake is closing its doors at the end of September. The Village Mercantile has served as a mini-department store for the area, selling everything from souvenirs like postcards and pottery to basic items such as socks and art supplies. Originally known as the Community Store, the Village Mercantile is owned by shareholders and run by a board. Melinda Little, board president, says the team behind the store tried to adapt to the changing retail landscape and learned hard lessons along the way. Emily Russell Saranac Lake's community-owned store is closing. What are the lessons learned? EMILY RUSSELL: So, you've been involved with this store before it was even a store, 20 years ago. It opened in 2011. What was the goal of this store in Saranac Lake? MELINDA LITTLE: Well, it really goes back to the fact that Saranac Lake had an Ames department store that was really popular and very successful. But Ames, as a corporation, overextended itself, if memory serves, and ended up closing everything down. So, then the question became for the community: what next? Walmart had shown a huge interest, and they got stopped, fortunately, because I've seen too many communities get decimated by having Walmarts in their downtown. But there was certainly a sense of, well, if we're not going to have Walmart, we need something. So, what is that? A group of people that included Wendy Foley from the Christian bookstore, Gail Brill, and one or two other folks initially. They started meeting on a regular basis and found the concept of a community-owned department store out west that was beginning to take hold. And again, we're talking 2006. So, that was the genesis of it. The reason for it was so that people would not have to travel to Plattsburgh and beyond for basic goods. RUSSELL: What happened over those years? The store, to my understanding, never turned a profit in 15 years. What do you see as some of the key things that have resulted in this store and not being profitable? LITTLE: Well, let's see. When we did the initial business plan and sold shares, we sold $541,700 worth of shares at $100 a pop. We had a healthy contingency in that working capital, and that gave us time to start seeing what worked and what didn't work. And so, we were cushioned from the fact that we didn't turn a profit, but we were going in the right direction for a number of years. One of the biggest pluses of the store has always been that if somebody went into the store, we had a really high percentage of people who would buy something. And they wouldn't know that they wanted it until they saw it at the community store. But we were trying to be all things to all people. And then we did some things like selling stuff for non-profits, their merchandise and whatnot, as a way to get people through the door. But then COVID hit. Having e-commerce was great in some ways because people could still order stuff. But we closed our doors for six months, and the retail environment just has changed so dramatically. RUSSELL: So, in January, you guys sent out a notice to shareholders saying you were considering closing. And there was a big [response]. LITTLE: Yeah, we had a meeting in February. About 100 people came. There was clearly enthusiasm for trying to keep it going. A group formed and they became a working group, and we had a follow-up meeting about a month or so later. And that group has been working very, very hard during that period to figure out if there was something that we, as a board, hadn't seen that could be done. And they ended up concluding what we thought was the case, which is yes, maybe [it could stay open] if there was a lot of money that could be thrown at it and a whole new business model. RUSSELL: Have there been specific memories or successes along the way that really stand out to you in the history of the Community Store and then the Village Mercantile? LITTLE: Well, first of all, opening was pretty damn cool. The New York Times came and covered it, and we were on the front of the digital version of the New York Times for a day, which was fabulous. For me, it's running into people who say, ‘It was so exciting, I was at the Merc the other day, and I was able to find blah blah blah.’ LITTLE: About a year and a half ago or something, within a span of about two weeks, I was at the farmer's market one day, and somebody I've known for a long time made a point of coming over and saying, ‘I was able to find an ironing board at the Mercantile, and I've been looking everywhere, and I didn't want to go to Plattsburgh.’ And son of a gun, a little while later, somebody else I knew told me about buying an ironing board at the Village Mercantile. Who would have thought? I mean, you know, I didn't know. I wouldn't have sent them to the Village Mercantile for an ironing board. But really, moments like that where people are really excited, excited by the story, excited about the community coming together to make this happen in the first place, because it's taken a lot of people. RUSSELL: How did it feel to make the final decision, and how are you feeling now with the closure impending? LITTLE: Well, I've been stressed for a long time about what's been happening with the store. And our vendors and our landlord have hung in there as we've been going through this and trying to put up with late payments and stuff like that. So, the fact that that stress is going away, I can't lie, That's going to make it a little better. But I'm really going to miss it. I mean, the working group, when they put out their note that said they were ‘wistful,’ I also feel very wistful about the whole thing. I do believe that this has been a great resource for the community for 15 years, and that, in itself, is quite the accomplishment. Related Topics adirondacks · saranac lake · economy