Below is a letter from Stephen Trinkaus, owner of Terra Organica and Bellingham Public Market on Cornwall Avenue. It’s a plea to the community to help with a boost in sales or else the business (and the market) will have to close.
In a phone interview, Trinkaus said the origin of the financial crunch took place after making a series of improvements to the business and the market, including new bulk bins, buying one of the businesses in the store, starting another business and doing some renovation work.
“Looking back, I can see I did a little more than I should have,” Trinkaus said. “I thought we could scrape by during the summer, (typically a slow time of year for the market) and get to the fall, when sales always pick up. This time the hole is too deep.”
At this point Trinkaus can’t turn to banks for loans and believes that taking on further debt would merely postpone a closure a little later. He’s hoping instead that sales could improve to a point similar to before the recession started in the coming months to help through this rough patch.
Along with Terra Organica, Trinkaus owns Seven Loaves Pizzeria and the cafe Trapeze. Other businesses in the market include Living Earth Herbs, Makizushi, Juice-It and Mount Baker Books.
“If it was just my family, that’s one thing, but there are employees involved,” Trinkaus said. “There has been a lot of tears from employees who enjoy working here.”
Here’s Trinkaus’ letter that was posted on Facebook (unedited):
I am writing this because Terra Organica is on the brink of going out of business and we need your help.
A Terra Organica bankruptcy would bring down the whole Public Market. Up to sixty people could lose their jobs, we would default on our existing debt, and the community would lose a precious gem. Our simple request: Please vote with your dollars to keep Terra Organica open. If we can generate enough business in the next three to six months, we will be able to stay in business.
The farmers, bakers, food processors, distributors and other suppliers far and wide – people with whom we have developed long standing relationships of trust and mutual support, are all depending on us to keep the dream alive. A closure of Terra Organica will put other farms and businesses at risk as well.
We need the community to shop here IN DROVES starting immediately. I probably should have written this plea a few weeks ago, but I thought we could make it until September when our business picks up after our normally slow summer. However, things have unraveled in the past week and now our situation is dire. Lots of people shopping here now will mean we can stay in business. If that does not materialize, we are done. Please spread the word. PLEASE share this with your other Facebook friends.
In hindsight I can say that we overextended ourselves financially in the past year by buying Seven Loaves Pizzeria, starting Trapeze Café & Deli, and by investing in new equipment (such as new bulk bins) and energy efficiency retrofits (like LED lighting in our coolers, freezers and spotlights). We attempted much at once in a weak economy. While our core business model remains sound, we need about six months of booming sales to get us back on track.
Of course, we experience none of this struggle in a vacuum. We live in a system based on an economy that rewards cutting corners, deceptive marketing, and externalizing social, health and environmental costs. We deserve better and through Terra Organica I have worked to create a new paradigm for all of us.
Fifteen years ago, when Terra Organica opened, we promised to avoid GMOs, to support organic producers, and to “do the research” on every single product we put on our shelves. We prohibited high fructose corn syrup, refined sugar, hydrogenated oil, SLS, MSG, and a long list of other unhealthy and toxic substances found in every other grocery store in Bellingham. We are not big, flashy or fancy, but we do raise hell and we have blazed a trail that others follow. Every day, we help hundreds of people find the foods and products they need to stay healthy and to create a positive impact on the planet.
Much still works strongly in our favor: everyone must eat, everyone wants to be healthy, and we provide the healthiest food out there. We enjoy some of the most loyal and dedicated customers a business could ask for. We remain price competitive and will match any local competitor’s price on any product. We employ a great staff, all of whom go out of their way to help customers. Terra Organica adds a unique and valuable community centerpiece to Bellingham that would be sorely missed if let go.
If you agree, please support us by committing to doing all (or most) of your grocery shopping here over the next three to six months, and ask your friends and family members to do the same.
With deep appreciation,
Stephen Trinkaus
Terra Organica & The Bellingham Public Market
stephen@terra-organica.com
Tel. 360.647.8006
(Please don’t hesitate to call, email or stop by!)
Web: www.terra-organica.com
@hamster – “Sooo when you talk negative about wal mart it is because you hate yourself?”
When did I mention Walmart? Ah, I see, If I support the Public Market, in your mind that makes me a “librul” who hates Walmart. Here’s a clue, hamster – some people think for themselves, and don’t need to be told what to think or be programmed by watching teevee.
I know this might seem strange to you, since you have totally internalized the divisive red v. blue narrative peddled by the corporate media to divide people.
Turn off your TV and get a life and maybe you will regain your brain.
It is a statement of these times, where technology has far outstripped the capacity of morality to keep up, that words become facts when they are submitted to print. Of the myriad of personality types…there are those that find comfort in black & white (hippies vs conservatives) in this, the energy between Stephen and Walter, is well matched. There is a significant lesson here for a struggling business.
This is also a time when the meek shall inherit an Earth full of opportunist scavengers fighting for the last scraps of human sustaining filth unless one speaks up. In this….it is important to seek balance between what one speaks to promote ego vs words and ideas to promote connection, empathy, dignity and grace. My own name calling of human traits that make us worthy of civilization vs succumbing to the deep recesses of a gun toting reptilian brain seeking the limited power of immediate control. I both respect you Stephen, for your outspokenness on public matters and avoid you at times…which translates into shopping elsewhere for sustenance. You are of the above average intelligence ilk (more name calling!) and I trust you will take this comment to heart.
In the end…the Public Market is an asset to the community…much more so than the Safeway was so many years ago..or the Bon Marche, Pennys, Woolworths and even Mooberrys…I’ll leave room for a conversation on Malls VS thriving downtown cores. Furthermore, I like you….you are stimulating in conversation and will listen to the other side of an argument when its not directed in a hostile manner, I believe you have an invested interest in humanity that thrives well beyond our current generation. And your a good Dad…which totally rocks in my book. Sooo, I’ll do some purchasing at yer store lad…thanks for bringing us up to speed on the situation…I know this has all been a learning experience for you and will continue to be so.
divadab, ha ha ha took you that long to tailor up that response, congrats on your free thinking skills but what you wrote is regurgitated. red pill blue pill is sooo original of you. I dont care if you are a “librul” or a democrat they are both a bunch of idiots with few differences, but with all your free thought you never realized that because you still think within those parameters.
btw I have not owned a tv nor watch it tv since 2001, but keep up your generic insults that have been toss around by unoriginal haters like yourself divadab.
OK, let’s boil this down to gravy. The business is failing as a result of a recession and a flawed business model. Still, if that space sits empty and becomes derelict, that is a HUGE blow for all businesses operating downtown. It’s a clean, modern, well-located space…I’m sure a tenant could eventually be found, but this is going to require some intervention from the city. Pleading for customers to frequent the business is a short-term solution, and negatively affects other, better-operated businesses operating in Bellingham. But let’s not let the site go down the toilet out of spite.
What if we turn this discussion into what could be done with the site? How about a co-op fish market? Just throwing out an idea, but it might be a great tourist draw and an opportunity for fishermen to sell fresh catches, with access to ice and water. Add in a Taylor outlet? Bornstein? Nissui? I’m sure some funding could be scared up for that. Thoughts?
Here’s an update to our situation that I just posted on Terra Organica’s Facebook page:
Above and beyond the call.
We sent out our plea for help on WEDNESDAY afternoon. Within hours the Bellingham Herald had posted the letter on their website along with quotes they garnered from me in a quick interview. By closing on Wednesday night our sales had already increased by $2,000 for the day. That evening, the Member’s Affairs committee of the Community Food Co-op (our “competition”) voted UNANIMOUSLY to ask their staff AND customers to support us during this difficult time.
The next day (THURSDAY) was our busiest day to date in 2012.
Then FRIDAY, the Bellingham Herald printed a story about our plea the print edition. Friday turned out to be the BUSIEST day in the fifteen year HISTORY of the store, and Trapeze also had a RECORD day. A customer walked in and gave us a $1,000 check as a GIFT! There were other monetary contributions as well.
On SATURDAY, the Blue Horse Gallery accepted a receipt from Terra Organica as cover for a popular music performance. Although the Saturday of Labor Day Weekend is usually one of the slowest days of the year for the Public Market, we ended up doing THREE TIMES the business we expected.
Over the past four days, people have come from as far away as Seattle to shop here and support the effort. A woman who lives in Washington, DC and heard about our troubles via Facebook is sending a check, and she wants the food it buys to be donated to the Bellingham Food Bank.
People organized a CASH MOB for the Public Market for all day tomorrow, TUESDAY. (A Cash Mob is when the community shows up en masse at a small local business and commits to spending money in support of the business and local economic resilience.) On Facebook alone, over 300 people have already said they would participate.
Great Harvest Bread has organized a treasure hunt, where they send their customers down here to search for clues and then get a FREE LOAF OF BREAD.
There is talk of organizing another Cash Mob for next weekend.
Some employees have offered to work for free (the only offers I turned down). People who rarely or never otherwise would set foot in a natural foods store have filled up shopping carts and pulled up to the check stand with grins on their faces and warmth in their hearts. Many customers have purchased Terra Dollars (kind of like gift certificates) to be spent later. A few of our suppliers have GIVEN us product or sold it to us BELOW their cost. Two professional marketing organizations are donating their services free of charge to help us with online outreach. I am meeting with someone today who wants to organize a fundraiser for us, including a silent auction. And there has been more, but I will save those stories for future posts as this one is getting long.
The burning question – is this going to be enough to keep us in business? The short answer is that we are on the right track and the train is chugging along faster than we imagined it could. We still have a long distance to cover, so PLEASE help us keep up the momentum.
Finally, THANK YOU FOR ALL OF THE SUPPORT. Consider us BLOWN AWAY by the outpouring. There have been more than a few tears, and so many hugs that they may well outnumber the quantity of fresh local blueberries sitting on our produce rack right now.
BELLINGHAM (and beyond) – WE LOVE YOU!
I will come by and support the Public Market. I think it is a vital part of Bellingham and, as a home owner, I certainly want Bellingham to thrive. On the political side (since the comments turned so political) I consider it my pleasure to support anyone who recognizes Fox News and Rush Limbaugh to be the inferior (the kindest word I can use..lying, scheming, etc. also come to mind) news sources they are. So, just as I became a Dixie Chicks fans for political reasons first and for their talent second, so I will become a Public Market shopper and wish the best for the market.
As a side note, if half of Bellingham believes in Fox News and Rush Limbaugh as one comment suggested this is a sad little place indeed..with or without the Public Market. I hope that comment was just wrong, wrong, wrong.
Great news that it was a success…btw, did any cash mobbers go shopping at the Lakeway Market or the Co-op that day? Yeah, didn’t think so.
Stephen Trinkaus,
Glad to hear that your p.r. campaign worked for a few days, at least. You’re not alone in misjudging the economy.
I would like to know what stores Walter Haugen does sell to, if any. He just sounds like a bitter man, trying to justify his own failures by throwing stones at others. Nobody is perfect, and helping a local business through tough times is a worthy cause. Since he would like to bring others down to his level, rather than doing something to uplift the community, I hope that nothing he has had anything to do with ever lands in my shopping cart. Like Steven, I don’t want to buy from you either, irregardless of where you are from. Nattering naybobs of negativity- who needs ‘em? Would you care to share that list Walter? Or, are you busy trolling other web sites today? I’m going to Terra to get some groceries.