by Melissa Markstrom
Businesses in Poultney are feeling the market tension. Photo by Oz Skinner.
With the upcoming closure of Poultney Market and Spirits, a local favorite since 1951, GMC students can see the impact of the economic crisis on Poultney’s Main Street. Owner Peter Rubino explains that despite the $40,000 a month liquor sales, the store receives only 6% of liquor revenues, because Vermont is a liquor-controled state. This means that retail stores house the liquor, but the liquor, along with the profits, belong to the state. Because both Rubino and his wife used their savings to keep in business, he said that they were “going to lose everything.”
Only the most recent in a series of business closures in the last year, Poultney Market and Sprits will soon follow the way of Brown Bag and the Green Mountain Bakery. The increased costs of everything from food to heating oil take their toll on both consumers and business owners.
Bixby’s, a local supplier of heating oil and motor fuel since the 1880’s, feels the strain, too. On the issue of fuel usage, owner Chris Keyser said that “people are conserving or all out switching to different fuels. It’s substitution and conservation.” Because customers are having a difficult time budgeting to heat their homes and fuel their vehicles, Bixby’s experiences increasing pressure from their suppliers and lenders.
Like Bixby’s, Journal Press, a local printing company that started over 50 years ago, also feels the pressure from suppliers, who are asking for payments up front. According to employee Tom Morash, “it is a trickle down effect. No matter where you are, or what type of business you’re in, you’re going to feel the crunch.” Morash said higher quotes due to the spike in paper and ink costs caused a decline in the printing business, which really made it hard for the employees who are already living paycheck to paycheck. “It really hasn’t hit the bottom yet. It’s scary. I wake up in the morning wondering whether or not the boss is going to close the doors here, but I have no control,” Morash noted.
On the other hand, although there were fewer vacationers at Lake St. Catherine this summer, in large part because of gasoline spikes, Andy and Caroline DelPezzo at the Trolley Stop said local patrons continue to provide steady business. DelPezzos try to avoid passing the costs onto their customers despite increasing heating, propane, and food expenditures. “You’ve got to be careful in raising prices,” Delpezzos said. “If you raise them too much people won’t come back.”
Shaw’s Store Manager Butch LaChapelle, who has been employed at the grocery store for 42 years, said although the price of food rose dramatically over the last year, Shaw’s continues to experience steady business. “We’re doing really well because people are staying in the area,” said LaChapelle. “The only thing I’m worried about is the people on fixed incomes, and we have a lot of them in Poultney. What are they going to do? Are they going to eat, or are they going to buy their fuel and starve?”
According to Kathy Hutson, Director of the Poultney Food Shelf, the store has seen “a rise in the number of people who are coming in on a weekly basis.” The Food Shelf is a non-profit organization based out of the Poultney Visitor’s Center. The Food Shelf extended their hours because they’re seeing an increasing number of working families. “Our primary purpose is to make sure, the best way that we can, that nobody in our community goes hungry,” said Hutson.
The Southwestern Vermont Council on Aging (SVCOA), a local non-profit organization providing support to elderly community members in Bennington and Rutland counties, saw an increase in seniors seeking heating assistance. SVCOA employee, and GMC graduate, Lindsey McFarland said, that “the area where I think we’re noticing the most impact from the economy is the Senior Helpline.” According to McFarland, a majority of questions coming in recently are related to seniors who can’t afford to heat their homes.
Since state funding isn’t enough to cover all who need assistance, the SVCOA contacted town managers to find out what can be done in places like Poultney. “It’s going to have to come back down to the local level,” said McFarland. For seniors who can’t qualify for heating assistance, the SVCOA released a brochure titled “Winter Heating Tips for Reducing Expenses”. Tips include turning down the heat when leaving the home and walking around, which might be very difficult for those who are unable to leave their homes due to physical constraints. Lindsey noted it’s important for GMC students, who only leave campus to go to Rutland or Killington, to know “what the people who actually pay taxes in the community are going through.”
