The Grassroots Era
The Merc began in the spirit of revolution. In 1974, a small group of Lawrencians acted on their shared passion for community access to whole foods. They formed a volunteer-run organized buying club, distributing bulk foods out of Harry and Judy Kroeger’s house in Lawrence. The Community Mercantile was incorporated in October 1974.

Soon, the make-shift cooperative grocery store outgrew the Kroeger’s home. During the next three years The Merc grew into and out of three locations:

• First, in 1975, The Merc moved downtown to 730 Massachusetts Street, site of the former Paradise Café. (The Merc had one paid employee.)
• Then, in 1976 The Merc moved down to 615 Massachusetts, currently the home of Quinton’s Bar and Deli. (Two paid employees!)
• In 1977, The Merc moved to 7th and Maine Streets, site of a former “corner grocery” called Turner’s Grocer. (Five paid employees and about 400 members!)
  

Until 1977, all shoppers volunteered each month to earn their keep. However, when the Fair Labor Standards Act changed, volunteers were no longer allowed to do “employee-esque” tasks, which ended the volunteering system at The Merc. The Merc stayed at 7th and Maine for 15 years, steadily growing. The Merc introduced its first membership fee of $10.

Growing and Growing Up
By the early 1990’s, the little store had a 22-person staff and generated $1 million in sales. In 1991, the Board of Directors hired Amy Fields as general manager, with a focus on making The Merc a more viable business.

As The Merc outgrew its location (once again), the Board and GM searched for a new location and found 901 Mississippi, a former bowling alley that was then a bar and dance club called the Palladium. In July 1992, the Board voted to replace the $10 membership with a $75 membership share to finance more Merc expansion.

Competition Comes to Town
In January 1993, six months before The Merc’s new location was schedule to open, Wild Oats opened a new store at 1040 Vermont in downtown Lawrence (about a mile away from The Merc’s soon-to-be new home.)

The Merc’s new store opened in June 1993. Already feeling the effects of competition from Wild Oats, The Merc struggled to gain a solid footing. The co-op lost hundreds of thousands of dollars from 1993 to 1996. Rod Runyan (our current finance manager) organized a member loan program and in early 1995, those loans were converted from debt to equity by replacing the loan value with shares in The Merc.

By the summer of 1996, unable to pay vendors on time and unable to offer any meaningful compensation to staff, The Merc was nearing its end.  In October 1996, The Merc was weeks away from being forced to close when Wild Oats announced it was closing the doors of its Lawrence location. (In preparation to take the company public, Wild Oats chose to close its stores with the poorest performance.) Although The Merc had been struggling, it still kept Wild Oats at bay.

Had Wild Oats waited another six weeks, The Merc would have closed and all the hard work and years of effort would have ended in bankruptcy. The Merc’s sales went up 30 percent the first day Wild Oats was closed, and has growing ever since. This triumphant story is legendary in the co-op community.

The Recovery Era
After Wild Oats closed, The Merc slowly covered by paying off debt and years of negative retained earnings. The “Wild Oats Years” taught the Merc’s Board and staff good lessons for future improvements. The Board and management worked with renewed energy, worked to make The Merc stronger, should competition come to town in the future. Jeanie Wells led these efforts as general manager from 1998 to 2009.

Most of all, The Merc wanted to strengthen its connection with the community. We taught more classes, held community dinners, and organized in-store benefit days to raise funds for community causes. Nancy O’Connor helped establish CMEF (Community Mercantile Education Foundation), a non-profit sister organization, to expand our educational outreach through grants and donations.

By 2000, The Merc had an 80-person staff, and sales approached $4 million. It was time to consider another expansion. In May 2000, Alvin’s IGA at 901 Iowa announced that it would be closing — an optimal location for a new Merc. Although this opportunity came knocking sooner than Merc management had expected, with the determination of our staff and the incredible support and generosity of some owners, The Merc successfully relocated to 9th and Iowa in June 2001.

Move to 901 Iowa
The year of the move, The Merc had 1,500 members and $5.2 million in sales. In its new 18,000-square-foot location, The Merc could provide full-service grocery operations such as an onsite classroom, and a meat and seafood department. The Merc, for the first time, was a “one-stop shop.”

Remodel - 2007
Since the move to 901 Iowa had limited funding, The Merc scraped by with existing equipment and store layout. After several years of planning, The Merc renovated the store in 2007. Based on member surveys, employee ideas, help from outside consultants, and the Board’s guidance, The Merc renovated the entire store.