On a rather sad note....
I should have sensed trouble about a week-and-a-half ago, when they ran a 10% off sale on everything, and saw that they were slow to restock.
Gentle Strength Cooperative set to close its doors for good today
Betty Beard
The Arizona Republic
Feb. 28, 2007 12:00 AM
After 36 years as the Valley's best known seller of health and organic foods, the Gentle Strength Cooperative is closing today.
The 36-year-old, member-owned Tempe health food store just didn't have the cash to buy new produce or other goods and began liquidating its merchandise last weekend. The store had slashed prices 35 percent over the past two days.
"We will close at 9 p.m. unless it gets real slow and then we will close earlier," said Tony Spaltro,the co-op's board president. "It's a very sobering experience."
The co-op, founded by peace activists in the 1970s, has been plagued by debt for at least a decade.
Spaltro said some board members sued other members of the board about a year ago, accusing them of mismanagement, but later dropped the suit on advice of their attorney.
The store was sued several times since the late 1990s for not paying bills, and $12,000 was stolen from a safe several years ago, but no one was charged.
Board members have blamed bad decisions by previous board members and the sale of its former Tempe home, which left the group owning no property to borrow against.
Gentle Strength sold its former Tempe home on University Drive west of Mill Avenue in 2004 for $2.5 million. After paying off debts, it was left with about $900,000, Spaltro said. But a previous board committed itself to spending about $1.6 million to get the new store ready, he said.
"We spent about five months getting as much financing as we could. But it was not enough for a cash reserve. It's a real shame," he said.
The situation got worse when Gentle Strength moved last fall to its current home southeast of Mill and Southern avenues and had to pay rent. It has a 10-year lease.
Spaltro said the company is a not-for-profit and, unlike a non-profit, cannot take donations. He said the board has tried to sell the store but was told by brokers that any interested buyers would want a positive cash flow.
Bob Kammrath, a Phoenix commercial real estate analyst, said it is surprising that Gentle Strength has lasted this long. Grocers these days need a lot of buying clout, and that's why there are chains, he said.
"It (Gentle Strength) is an oddity in this age. It is a throwback to the way things were in the 1800s," he said.
Gentle Strength opened in 1971, patterned after agricultural co-ops formed by farmers 100 years earlier.
Kammrath also noted that Gentle Strength in recent years has faced more competition not only from health food chains but from growing health food sections at traditional grocery stores.
Spaltro said he hopes someone can someday restart the co-op, but Kammrath doubts that will happen.
"From a purist standpoint, it is a good idea," he said. "It's just not economically feasible."
http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/0228biz-tr-gentle0228.html
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