Washburn has Illinois' only community-owned
grocery store, thanks an energized village and Alpha
Community Bank. The story has attracted national attention
from the AP wire services and national media. Operating
since fall of 2000, the project is keeping Main Street
a-buzz in a town where people pull together to make
things happen.
Tim Schoon, president
of the Washburn branch of the $125 million bank based
in Toluca, Ill., rallied the community around the effort
to preserve the town's store. Tim organized a committee
to find ways to keep the store open, and the group came
up with the idea of selling stock to buy the store outright.
Nearly 100 people turned out at a meeting in support
of the proposal.
Association members
went door-to-door within a 15-mile radius of Washburn,
soliciting people to buy shares at $50 each. Nearly
500 investors bought shares, raising more than $100,000.
The money, along with grants and low-interest loans,
was used to buy, remodel, and restock the store. Investors
didn’t stop at raising money. Volunteers also
cleaned floors and walls, replaced light fixtures, repaired
equipment, painted, and rearranged the floor plan of
the store.
Now inside, the
aroma of homemade rolls, breads, cakes, and pies, from
the made-from-scratch bakery leased by local Mennonites,
greets shoppers as they enter the store. You'll see
an expanded produce department, a fresh meat case, a
deli, a full selection of grocery items. |
|
Tim Schoon initiated
the WCF Project |
