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But I can’t prove it.
My area is a food desert. There hasn’t been a grocery store in town for about 10 years. The next town to the east hasn’t had a grocery store for about 5 years. The next town to the west has a grocery store-a small one with a decent selection, but it’s a 5 to 10 mile drive to get there. Naturally, the locals are excited about a grocery store opening in town.
This guy who moved away after high school has come back to the area. He says he bought the shopping center in the eastern town where the grocery store used to be, but the property records say the old owner is still paying the property tax. And the property owner is a generic business name. It could be anyone.
He also supposedly dumped a lot of money into refurbishing a building in the middle town so it could open as a grocery store. It’s always about to open in 4-6 weeks. It’s been more than 6 months.
The business started out as an LLC, but that started having issues, so they re-formed it as a co-op. Now anyone can buy shares and own a piece of the grocery store.
Initially, the guy didn’t want his name on anything. His childhood friend who still lives in the state and his son were the owners of the business. But now that the friend’s son is going back to school, the guy “reluctantly“ agreed to be added to the account as an authorized signer.
And at first he wanted a debit card, but when I said I would need to pull credit, he changed his mind. We know that he’s been using the young guy’s debit card. When they were in to update the account, I asked the younger guy if he was still using the card even though he’s going back to school. He said he was. I reminded him that he’s responsible for that card and he’s not supposed to share it with anyone else. That didn’t phase him. The guy said that’s how they’ve been paying bills.
We know that the guy has been using the debit card. He’s been making purchases at restaurants and withdrawing from the ATM locally while the student is away in another part of the state. There’s been cell phone payments and Apple Store payments going through the account. Many of these things are obviously not business related.
The Chair of the co-op is also Chair of the chamber of commerce. We were talking about it at the chamber meeting. She said the guy has put SO much money into the grocery store, but he had taken “not a dime” out of it. I wanted to call bullshit, but I can’t say anything due to privacy laws. 😤 She also gave them a check for “HVAC repair” but nothing came out of the account to go to a repair company. As a successful business person, I feel like she should know better.
I worry that all of these people are being taken in. I can’t say much because of privacy laws, and that bothers me. I just hope nobody is putting more than they can afford to lose into this grocery store.
My area is a food desert. There hasn’t been a grocery store in town for about 10 years. The next town to the east hasn’t had a grocery store for about 5 years. The next town to the west has a grocery store-a small one with a decent selection, but it’s a 5 to 10 mile drive to get there. Naturally, the locals are excited about a grocery store opening in town.
This guy who moved away after high school has come back to the area. He says he bought the shopping center in the eastern town where the grocery store used to be, but the property records say the old owner is still paying the property tax. And the property owner is a generic business name. It could be anyone.
He also supposedly dumped a lot of money into refurbishing a building in the middle town so it could open as a grocery store. It’s always about to open in 4-6 weeks. It’s been more than 6 months.
The business started out as an LLC, but that started having issues, so they re-formed it as a co-op. Now anyone can buy shares and own a piece of the grocery store.
Initially, the guy didn’t want his name on anything. His childhood friend who still lives in the state and his son were the owners of the business. But now that the friend’s son is going back to school, the guy “reluctantly“ agreed to be added to the account as an authorized signer.
And at first he wanted a debit card, but when I said I would need to pull credit, he changed his mind. We know that he’s been using the young guy’s debit card. When they were in to update the account, I asked the younger guy if he was still using the card even though he’s going back to school. He said he was. I reminded him that he’s responsible for that card and he’s not supposed to share it with anyone else. That didn’t phase him. The guy said that’s how they’ve been paying bills.
We know that the guy has been using the debit card. He’s been making purchases at restaurants and withdrawing from the ATM locally while the student is away in another part of the state. There’s been cell phone payments and Apple Store payments going through the account. Many of these things are obviously not business related.
The Chair of the co-op is also Chair of the chamber of commerce. We were talking about it at the chamber meeting. She said the guy has put SO much money into the grocery store, but he had taken “not a dime” out of it. I wanted to call bullshit, but I can’t say anything due to privacy laws. 😤 She also gave them a check for “HVAC repair” but nothing came out of the account to go to a repair company. As a successful business person, I feel like she should know better.
I worry that all of these people are being taken in. I can’t say much because of privacy laws, and that bothers me. I just hope nobody is putting more than they can afford to lose into this grocery store.
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