Bloomingfoods is still searching for options for its eastside location after the city council nixed a plan for a student housing development that offered financial incentives for relocating the store.
The project developers offered Bloomingfoods $500,000 in incentives to move the store and make room for the housing complex near Third Street and S.R. 446.
Maggie Sullivan, president of the Bloomingfoods Board of Directors, says even though the development wasn’t approved, the incentive was a good sign.
“For me, I think the takeaway is that someone – a professional thought that Bloomingfoods is worth that kind of investment,” Sullivan says. “And that is really heartwarming and encouraging.”
Sullivan says Bloomingfoods has been working to repay a $3 million debt after the Elm Heights Bloomingfoods closed in 2016.
The co-op has gotten the debt down to $2 million, and Sullivan says they’re still trying to think of ways to pay off the loan – and pay back co-op members, who provided a majority of the store’s funding.
Sullivan says they have to keep that in mind when they’re considering how to move forward with the eastside location.
"Can we get a loan, can we get member investments and member loans given that we have an unsuccessful project under our belts?” Sullivan says. “That said, it’s totally different people who are involved now. We’ve had complete board turnover, complete management turnover.”
Sullivan says the store is gathering information for a feasibility study on the co-op’s options, including moving the branch to another part of town or closing it completely. She says they’ll begin releasing some of those findings to members when they are available in February.
The lease for the Third Street Bloomingfoods location ends in June 2020.
This story has been updated to clarify that the housing development was not slated to include space for a new Bloomingfoods. A previous version also stated that the current store was at Tenth Street and S.R. 446, rather than Third Street.
