HALIFAX – There’s a new addition to the store front of The Community Carrot grocery store on Gottigen Street: a for sale sign.
The building was officially put on the market this week, just a few months after the co-op announced they were closing up shop.
READ MORE: Community Carrot co-op grocery “not financially viable,” set to close next week
After winning $115,000 in an Aviva community funding competition, The Carrot bought and renovated their Gottingen Street building.
The Carrot officially opened for business in October of 2014.
A little more than a year later, they announced in an open letter to all co-op members that the store would be closing because it was “not financially viable.”
When the store closed, The Carrot said they wanted to take the winter to explore the possibility of finding an alternative business model that may be more viable.
“By closing at this time we are trying to ensure that we have sufficient capital remaining to meet our financial obligations to our employees, suppliers and creditors,” the letter read.
“We always had hopes it would stay open, or open again and keep running, but I guess that’s just not going to happen,” said Carrie Ann Hillier, a former Carrot customer.
With the building now listed for sale, it’s clear The Carrot will not be re-opening.
Repeated requests to The Carrot for an interview on Wednesday were either declined or not returned.
“An ambitious project”
Alec MacKinnon, the former manager of the store told Global News the situation is complicated, but essentially, The Carrot ran out of money. He says the grocery store was “an ambitious project that just didn’t hit our marks.”
Patricia Cuttell, Executive Director of the North End Business Association, says the closing of The Carrot is a real loss to the community.
“The carrot was a great contribution to the area. We have a lot of new residential development, having a grocery store in the neighbourhood was a real asset and we’re sad to see it go.”
Cuttell says she doesn’t know what led to the decision to sell the building, but said maybe the timing for the grocery store just wasn’t right.
READ MORE: Community Carrot grocery store seeks investors with new development fund
As for what she would like to see in the space, Cuttell says she hopes the building will attract both commercial and residential use, and hopes to see a local business move into the space.
“I think it’s a really incredible location first of all,” said Cuttell.
“It’s right at the entrance to Gottigen Street. I think there’s an opportunity for some retail in there, we have a really, kind of growing restaurant scene and café scene happening in the North End. So I think there’s lots of opportunities.”
Having another local business in the neighbourhood is something shopper Hillier would welcome as well.
“The Carrot, it provided opportunity for people for employment as well as purchasing what they needed, so it would be great to have something that provided the same opportunity for the community.”
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