Trumansburg Big M Closing
T’aint it ironic? Just as we get the Main Street Project, Main Street seems to be folding in on itself in some sort of economic catastrophe. First we had that Philadelphia couple that declared Simply Red “cute”, and then proceeded to kick the restaurant out of the space so they could put their own establishment in its place. Now we’re losing Big M. I just heard that Big M will close its doors on the 9th of December.
The two businesses are not of the same class, certainly. But, both served their needs, and gave people in the village the chance to walk to go get food. Now, we’ll have to leave our village for groceries, and as for that new restaurant… well, I’ve always thought of Philadelphia as a “cute” city, but certainly not in a Main Street Upstate New York kind of way.
The closing of Big M brings on fantasies of what I would do if I had 5 million dollars handy. It sure would be nice to take advantage of this opportunity to tear down the cheap buildings on that lot (yes, the new ones too), and erect a series of nicer, shops further back from the creek, with a waterside series of walkways and patios for outdoor eating. As it is, we’ve had another section of the Trumansburg creek shut away, and from what I’ve heard, it was the building costs from that project that did the Big M in.
And the second dollar store and the third video store in our little village couldn’t make up the difference? Who could have predicted that?
I’ve heard nothing yet about what will be done with that space. The architecture would fit a bowling alley… or a movie theater… or a Greenstar…
Jonathan-
Enclosed is a little piece I have ciruclated that fleshes out a few details of which you apparently were not aware. Hope you find it helpful.
Tom
“Simply Reality”:
The Truth About Selling 53 East Main Street
by
Tom Callaghan, the previous owner of
53 East Main Street provides
details missing from or
distorted on the
Simply Red Bistro website.
In January 2006, Ms. Izzo, of Simply Red Bistro asked if I wanted to buy her restaurant business. Apparently, the roles of new mother and proprietor were hard to reconcile.
Simply Understandable.
Already a gainfully employed professional, I declined.
Simply No Thanks.
History: After I bought the building in 2003, I continued to provide Ms. Izzo with rent that was 35% below market. I thought that this would facilitate her getting the business off the ground and keep me from having to scout for a new tenant.
Simply Wrong.
Even though I declined to buy the business, I honored the clause to convey the lease term to another buyer who passed credit scrutiny. Maybe someone wanted a foundering restaurant named after an eighties alt band.
Simply Whatever.
Regardless, I worried about Mz. Izzo’s perpetual ambivalence (she’ll stay open, she’ll close, she’ll stay open, she’ll close, stay open,, close, open, close, AAAAHH!!!..). I thought, “Perhaps it’s not smart to wait and see if Ms. Izzo will renew her lease in November.†I decided to sell the building instead.
Simply Prudent.
I contacted a local real estate agency to discuss options. The agent calculated the price that the building was offered and eventually sold.
Simply Market.
Following the lease terms, I gave the Izzos right of first refusal to buy the building. They declined, making no counter offer, let alone two, as the Simply Red Bistro website claims. Simply Bogus.
Even though she was supposedly closing, Ms. Izzo surmised she might exercise the option in her lease to renew, regardless of sale, 60 days before the original lease expired. Then she decided not to renew.
Simply Enough Already.
The building was listed in the Ithaca Journal Classifieds. Within a week, five parties showed interest at the what the Simply Red Bistro website complains was an “inflated†price., Within another week, two parties were bidding!!
Simply Hot.
The next week, a contract was signed. The sale closed in September. Simply Fabulous.
Apparently, the new owners offered Ms. Izzo the opportunity to remain, and to raise the rent to the $1 per square foot that everyone else in T’burg pays for commercial space.. Simply Free Ride’s Over.
The Simply Red Bistro website reads like Ms. Izzo was driven out of business by a conspiracy to make her fail. Simply Not.
Long and short, Ms. Izzo initiated the building’s sale by saying she wanted to close. After three years of paying the cheapest rent in town, what’s left is…
Simply Dead.
Mr. Cook…..
Regarding the Big M…..first of all, you should never go on “gossip” Is your source reliable? What facts do you have to support your suggestion? I hate heresay! Perhaps you should first try to consider reality…at least as I’ve seen it happen….what was right in front of our eyes…correct me if I’m wrong, but from what I’ve seen, the store has had to deal with many hard blows since it opened just 2 years ago ….from the closing of the bridges nearby the first year of operation… redirecting hundreds of potential shoppers to the “other” store, as you state, leaving your village”….and, please keep that thought in mind….the “other” store does not contribute any tax money to the “Village” of Trumansburg….but it surely likes to talk about being locally owned and hometown operated….it’s a fallacy….lures you to believe that they are there for the community in some way… Truth-be-told…The Big M was all about “what can I do for you”….For the Shur-save, it’s all about “what can you do for me?” Oh, and what about this spring/summer and fall?…the infamous “sidewalk project” that crushed so many merchants…I’m sure that hundreds of thousands of potential dollars were lost for most all of the stores in downtown. It’s a wonder that other facilities haven’t shut their doors, as well. The sidewalk project was a poorly managed project and no consideration was given to local vendors and how it would impact them, given the way it was run….Shame on those involved in this so-called “beautification”…..It was very “ugly” in the way that it didn’t work in partnership with the shopowners….Just ask them….any of them!! I did a little of my own walk-around the community during the project and believe me, the feedback was not positive!
So…before you go and start creating your own thoughts on what is happening with any of the economic shut down on Main Street…take a look at the recent history of the village…Perhaps if you had had a shop on Main Street you could empathize. I’m not physically disabled and thus I can’t speak of what it’s like to live in a wheelchair, to have someone feed and dress me, to be looked down upon by the general population because of being different….I’m not deaf and so I can’t really feel how badly it would be to not hear the sound of a bird singing, a baby laughing, a river flowing…In other words, if you haven’t walked a mile in their shoes, then you can’t know what it felt like for them!
addendum to my comment….when I speak of “gossip” and “heresay”, what I’m refering to is not that the Big M is shutting down, but rather, what you understand to be the reason that the Big M is closing…
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