Peach-O-Rama is saved

Peach-O-Rama

We've lived in the same city neighborhood for over 20 years and the center of at least our life in the neighborhood is our locally-owned grocery store. We of course, go there a lot, so we know the people who work there, we often run into other folks we know from the neighborhood (because of course they go there a lot, too), and it's just a darn good grocery store. To top things off, the owners have a long history of positive involvement in the neighborhood, including starting a neighborhood-based charity (which Drake and I support).

We were crushed to learn that the site they occupy was going to be redeveloped, and our grocery was going to be replaced by a HUGE two-story version of big-chain grocery. There is more to the story than that, but that's it in a nutshell.

Meanwhile, another small local chain in the neighborhood went bankrupt and was auctioning off its assets. Of course, speculation ran wild that our grocery would bid on the location and simply set up shop there. Those hopes, however, were dashed when a California company was announced as the successful bidder.

But, this week, there was another twist: the California company was out -- at the last minute our grocery came in with a better bid, which was accepted by the bankruptcy court.

There is more - today I was talking to one of the checkers and the landlord on their current location wanted to extend their lease, so they are actually going to be running both locations for a year. The deal on their current location came in right at the same time as the successful auction bid.

So, it's been quite a little neighborhood drama, ending happily with two locations of our favorite store (for a year anyway). Peach-O-Rama is saved! (The annual peach festival at the market during the month of August.)