Text 1727, 69 rader
Skriven 2006-05-24 15:12:06 av DAVE SACERDOTE (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av MICHAEL LOO
Ärende: Food Zone 718
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DS> Champion was an IGA store for the short time it was FPM's successor.
DS> The managers of Champion skipped on their debts, so IGA was awarded
DS> lock, stock, and barrel by the bankruptcy court.
 
ML> I remember your description of what happened, but was it a
ML> dishonest-to-badness skip-out, with criminal implications,
ML> or just the usual bankruptcy situation? 

In the weeks leading up to the closure, I had noticed that some
of the shelves were looking a little thinly-stocked and mentioned
it to Lynn.  We would go down the aisles and the fronts of the
shelves were filled with product, but only one or two items deep,
like a supermarket version of a Potemkin Village.  When I pointed
it out to Lynn I said, "Watch, these guys are on the edge. When a
store stops stocking the shelves, it's a sign that they're nearly
bankrupt."

But then a little over a week later, everything in the store seemed
back to normal - the shelves were full, the produce and meat areas
were loaded again, etc.  

And then, that Friday, employees showed up and found the place 
locked.  Some of them hung around int he parking lot waiting for
the store to open, but no one showed up to unlock.

IGA went to court because their attempts to find the owners and 
collect the cash they were owed on that last massive restock 
failed; the court awarded the store lease and the contents to
IGA in a default judgement since the other side never showed.

Everything unfolded in much less time than might have happened
had they gone through channels with the bankruptcy.  The whole
situation had the smell of someone ducking out in the middle of 
the night.

ML> I also remember our
ML> saying that somebody came by with a truckload of cash to pay
ML> off the laid-off employees, which is a singularly thoughtful
ML> thing for people to do who have cut and run.

I dunno...paying people from a briefcase in the back seat of a
sedan a couple of weeks after they've been cut loose without warning
has that not-quite-right feel to it to me.

DS> I agree with Sr. Diaz that the reason that FPM/Champion failed was
DS> mismanagement.  That corner of Belmont has had a neighborhood 
DS> supermarket since the late 1950's.
 
ML> What's happened to the neighborhood demographics in this time?
ML> It's not that poor people don't have to eat but rather that higher
ML> profit items tend to be seen in more affluent parts of the world
ML> such as those in which one might find Weggies or a Whole Foods
ML> or the like.

But the neighborhood isn't all poor people.  The southeast Asian
community encompasses a wide range of incomes.  On the other side
of Belmont, and to the east, is the Forest Park section (middle
class and up.)  Plus there's a huge Hispanic population there.
Unlike the Asians, who have Saigon Market and others in the area,
there are no other markets within easy walking distance with
Spanish stuff. 




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