Randolph Co-op
Will Close Its Doors
By Sandy Vondrasek Cooch

Randolph Cooperative Market clerk Jessica Knapp checks out customer Laurie McIntosh Tuesday. The coop's council decided last week to permanently close the debt-burdened business within the next week or two. (Herald / Tim Calabro) 1Sandy 1

"Heroic" efforts undertaken in recent months to rescue the financially-strapped Randolph Co-operative Market proved too little, too late.

The governing council of the member-owned natural foods store sadly agreed late last week to close the store after the inventory is sold, which will probably take another week or two.

The closure is being termed a liquidation, not a bankruptcy, and there are no plans to "reorganize" and reopen, Council President Lisa McCrory said Monday. However, members are maintaining an informational network about the possibility of developing alternatives.

Council members said that remaining assets—the ground-floor of the Pleasant Street building that also houses Tony’s Gym, and the equipment therein—will be applied to pay off the Co-op’s long-term indebtedness ($315,000 or more in loans from three sources, and a mortgage.)

The Co-op presently owes another $130,000 to various vendors. In an interview at the co-op on Monday, a group of five council members, clearly uncomfortable, conceded that those overdue accounts will probably never be paid. Member equity is at the bottom of the list, in terms of legally mandated priorities for payment, and so no member fees will be returned.

A detailed, two-phase business plan presented to members a few weeks ago and designed to increase store sales and profitability, could not overcome the combined drags of significant indebtedness, flat sales, and high overhead, council members said.

The Co-operative started in the early 1970s as a buying club, formed by residents in area towns looking to buy natural foods not otherwise available. The Co-op opened its first storefront on Weston Street in Randolph in the late 1970s, expanded there, and moved to the much larger Pleasant Street site in 2000.

That move marked the beginning of major financial pressures for the co-op, which incurred significant debt to pay for renovations and increased inventory.

The last-ditch initiative launched last month, under the direction of a volunteer management team of three, did attract about $19,000 in member contributions and put more goods and variety on the shelves.

However, until this past week, sales did not increase enough to make a difference. And then, new financial pressures knocked the pins from under the Co-op.

John Lutz, a member of the Co-op’s financial committee and one of the three unpaid managers, said those unexpected demands included "very urgent IRS demands" over unpaid payroll taxes, and increasing pressures from vendors for payment on overdue bills. Working with Lutz as volunteer managers were Stuart Osha and Don Shepheard.

Those new financial pressures "just swamped that fragile little craft," Lutz said this week.

On Thin Ice

Council members this week underlined the Co-op’s financial fragility, pointing out that other problems, including the