Starke County Economic Development Foundation Executive Director Larry Wickert recently informed the North Judson Town Council that the owner of the grocery store on Lane Street is looking to sell.
When officials met Monday night, Wickert noted that he and Councilmembers Josh Brown and James Young recently met with the store owner and their financial advisor. Wickert added that he informed them he would work to help locate a potential buyer.
Some concerns were expressed about the fact that the listing is difficult to find and that the sale is not being advertised sufficiently because not many people are even aware that it’s being sold.
Councilman Brown mentioned that the North Judson building is currently being bundled in a sale with two other grocery stores in Rensselaer and Francesville. He said he talked with the wetaskiwin realtor about selling it individually and was told that it could be a possibility.
Executive Director Wickert noted that there is one option that could be considered if they can get enough people interested in leading the effort.
He explained, “I know a couple of people in our Stellar group participated in a conference somewhere and they talked about Co-Ops kind of picking up in small communities like this.”
He continued “I don’t know if that would be a feasible thing here but you’d have enough people who would be interested to kind of join together. If you right people who would want to do that, that would be one way to keep it going here, run locally.”
Wickert noted that he also intends to reach out to some chain stores to see if they would be interested in the sale.
If you know of anyone who would be interested in purchasing the building that sits adjacent to North Judson Town Hall on Lane Street, contact the SCEDF Office at 574-772-5627.
