Woodstock Farmers Market has reopened its flagship store two months after it was flooded by the heavy rains that soaked Vermont in early July.
The specialty food retailer, which is known for its assortment of locally sourced fare, was able to harness the support of the community to help retain its employees throughout the closure. It created a “flood fund” for pooling customer donations, which raised $200,000.
“We used that money to keep our staff on payroll — the entire staff, the entire time we were closed — so that we could retain them, and they would not have to go on unemployment, and they would not lose their benefits,” said Amelia Rappaport, minister of culture at Woodstock.
Dedicated customers showed their support for the store from the day the floodwaters hit, as several customers showed up to offer their help. One customer was even recruited to help distribute the store’s perishables to local food banks.
“We had a lot of support from our community, which was tremendous,” said Rappaport. “People feel a real sense of ownership of our store.”
Woodstock was able to salvage much of its equipment and electronics by moving it to a higher level before the floodwaters arrived, but it still lost some of its compressors, a cheese case, and a stove, she said. Most of it has been replaced with new equipment, and some is still in the process of being replaced.
The company also had to replace the floors in its office building next door, tear out much of the walls up to about three feet in height in both buildings, and replace the insulation and wiring. Everything had to be thoroughly dried, and the store was given a thorough cleaning.
“The silt that gets left behind is very, very fine, and it gets into everything, so cleaning the equipment out is painstaking,” Rappaport said.
The company was able to get an advance payment from its insurance company to help fund the repairs and equipment, but it is also relying on some small business loans and savings, she said.
Other than a few minor changes—the bakery area was enlarged, the employee break area received an upgrade, and the retailer installed new, more efficient shelving—the store looks much the same as it did before the flood, Rappaport said.
“It’s like we went to sleep and had a really bad dream, and lost two months,” she said. “We pretty much kept it the way it was, because we did want to reopen as quickly as possible.”
The company had been keeping in touch with many of its customers via email about its reopening plans, and made an announcement in the local newspaper last week, the day before it was set to reopen. That was enough to attract a line of customers waiting outside the door on the day it reopened, Rappaport said.
She said she’s “received a lot hugs” from customers since the store reopened, as well as positive comments on social media and via email.
“The community is very invested in us, and to see that support and feel that support is just tremendous,” she said.
Related: Flood Relief Fund to Assist Vermont Businesses; Flooding Impacts Food Companies in Vermont.