Green Grocer is closing its doors on Jan. 18 (photo by Brittany Nunn)
“Closed” sign at Green Grocer (photo by Brittany Nunn)
Green Grocer isn’t going to make it to its third anniversary.
The health-centric grocery store was brought to Lower Greenville by Cassie Green and Gary Stephens, who moved here from Chicago during the summer of 2012. It’s the second location of their Chicago-based store by the same name and, like the original, it emphasizes local and organic offerings.
Or at least it did. It will close on Monday, Jan. 18, says Cassie Green — just eight days shy of its third birthday.
Almost all inventory is currently on sale.
“We’re hoping to have nearly barebones by Monday,” Green explains. “At this point we’re trying to not lose money on everything we’ve bought.”
The closure has been a long time coming. The couple tried to save the location on more than one occasion, even going so far as to publicly ask neighbors to shop there more often. Green says they’ve done all they can.
“A lot of people are like, ‘Oh this is such a surprise.’ But I’m like, ‘Well, I’ve been looking at the numbers for the past three years,’ ” she points out. “We were just never able to bring in the number of customers we needed to bring in. We decided we can’t keep throwing resources at this.”
(photo by Brittany Nunn)
Green says they made the decision on Friday, told the general manager on Saturday and told the rest of the crew on Sunday.
“It was pretty emotional,” she says. “There were a lot of tears, definitely, from me.”
As time goes on the decision to close is getting easier to stomach, Green says. Now she’s looking towards the future. Although she doesn’t know exactly what what it will hold, news of the closure has already opened doors and started conversations about possible partnerships.
“I don’t regret anything. I’m excited to see what other doors open,” she says. “This is what I’m passionate about. I want to create a better food system. I’ve loved being able to see people learn about food and make their lives better. Hopefully sooner than later we’ll have more solid plans.”
