SARANAC LAKE — The Village Mercantile board will not vote to dissolve next week. But the board of the only community-owned department store in the state, and one of the few remaining in the country, says they’re looking for new people to take the helm and bring fresh ideas to keep the unique shop financially viable.
After the board announced last month that they had been struggling financially and were at risk of closing, the community response was immediate, energetic and sizeable.
“It was very heartening,” Mercantile founding board member and President Melinda Little said. “It’s great that so many people think it’s an important part of the community.”
Now, she’s hoping the energetic response will materialize into a new group of people looking to take the lead.
The board had planned to meet and discuss the Merc’s future and potentially dissolve the store this coming Wednesday.
Now, Little said they’ve taken dissolving the corporation off the table.
“We have heard a lot of feedback about interest and enthusiasm for finding a path to keeping the store’s doors open,” she said in a letter to stakeholders on Thursday. “We welcome this excitement, and therefore we will NOT be calling for a dissolution vote at the meeting on Feb. 25.”
Instead, this meeting will be used to identify a path forward and find new board members. Little said the current four-member board is “burned out.”
The meeting on Feb. 25 will be open to the public in the Cantwell Room in the basement of the Saranac Lake Free Library at 5 p.m.
They’re looking to see if new board members — particularly young people — want to try to reinvent the Mercantile. Little said this would be a big time commitment and they’d need to be ready to “roll up their sleeves.” There’s not going to be a quick fix, she said.
At the meeting, they will outline some of the challenges facing the store, hear people’s ideas and try to find people who want to offer themselves as board candidates.
In mid-March, the board is planning a digital session where teams of people can pitch their ideas or apply to be board members over Zoom.
In mid-April, the board is planning an in-person shareholder meeting for a formal vote for a new board team. If this process is not successful, dissolving the corporation would be an option again.
Little said one person has already reached out to her to say they’re interested.
There are currently four members of the board. Little said they can have up to seven.
Even if people are not on board, she said they’re looking for residents who can work together to find a plan for the store. It needs a new target, a new vision and some new marketing, she said.
The store took a huge effort to start, and did a crowdfunding effort in 2018 to raise debt capital.
When the Ames department store closed due to bankruptcy in 2002, it left a major hole in the local retail scene. People had to travel to Plattsburgh, Malone or Potsdam to buy everyday essentials like underwear, children’s shoes, cooking utensils or craft supplies.
For a number of years, Walmart was in talks to open up a supercenter here, at the end of town where McDonald’s, Aldi and the village sand pit are.
This was controversial, with fierce support and fierce opposition to the large company coming into town. The plan was eventually scrapped.
As consolation, a group of locals started up The Community Store, inspired by and modeled after the community-owned Powell Mercantile in Wyoming. The Powell Mercantile opened in 2001 and closed in 2016.
The Saranac Lake Village Mercantile is a corporation with several hundred shareholders, run by a volunteer board of directors. Little said no one person owns more than a 3% share of the company. She said when it started, 750 people bought shares at $100 each to raise the $540,000 needed to open. The store was the first community-owned department store in the state.
The New York Times wrote about the opening and called it “the retail equivalent of the Green Bay Packers.” Ironically, the last time the Green and Gold won the Super Bowl was in February 2011, eight months before The Community Store opened.
A community-owned department store is incredibly rare. Little said it might be the only one in the country still functioning. Retail has changed a lot since the store opened almost 15 years ago, Little said, adding that it’s a hard business to be in today.
It’s been struggling since it opened in 2011. Some years have gotten close, but Little said they’ve never turned a profit and the current model is not sustainable.
The coming meeting was said to be a “wake-up call” and a chance for the board to see if it’s worth it to the community for a new group of leaders to keep it running.
The Mercantile sells daily essentials that are needed, but not sold elsewhere for miles around. Recently, hats, gloves, snowpants and boots have been hot items. It is a a source of warm coats for the Salvation Army every winter.
On top of clothing, the store has kitchen supplies and lots of yarn. The store also does consignment and sells syrup, jewelry, art, books and candles made by local creators.
The Mercantile has been adjusting through the years, adding an online store and rebranding from The Community Store to The Village Mercantile in 2018.
Little said she sees other downtown businesses — like Bloom or Heartwood Studios — making it work. She believes the Mercantile can find it’s niche.
“We feel strongly that the future of the store is in your hands, and we share your hope that the store will live on into the future,” she wrote in the letter this week.