A whole grocery store is for sale in one coastal Massachusetts town after the store, long a fixture, has fallen on hard times.
Carolyn Cleverly doesn't like it. The manager at Riddle's Supermarket doesn't like the bare shelves, but there is little she can do, as the store in Hull faces an uncertain future.
"It is just going to be really hard, it really is," she said.
The store has fallen on hard times recently. The town manager for Hull says the store owes nearly $20,000 in unpaid electric bills. There is at least one pending lawsuit too.
Customers say in recent weeks, the shelves have gotten more and more bare. The deli and bakery, once packed on summer holidays, closed.
"I used to order flowers, and that’s where the flowers went," Cleverly said. "This is where all the ice cream was and desserts and novelties."
The store's owners and their attorney did not return phone calls for comment on Friday. The manager said the store's future could come into focus in the coming weeks.
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On Friday, a realtor stopped by to tape "For Sale" signs in the windows. The realtor said the store was selling for $7.25 million.
"One coffee left. I'm like ‘thank god.’ Sad. Despicable," Michael Aiello said. "The whole town runs on this store, and if there is nothing in it."
"It is just the end of a good era, it is, is really too bad," Cherry Anattos added.
"I'll go in there, it makes you want to cry, you know, seeing all the empty shelves," Kathleen Galvin added.
Back inside the store, Cleverly is trying to stay busy.
"I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed," she said with a laugh. "I guess we are diehards, just don't want to leave."
