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Date: 2/22/2021
EASTHAMPTON – The new River Valley Co-op expects to open its doors by mid-June or early July. This will be the second grocery store in Hampshire County, their first being in Northampton.
General Manager Rochelle Prunty told Reminder Publishing that in 2014, she and the managers and owners began talking about expanding from their Northampton store. After studying different locations, they secured the Easthampton land in 2018.
Prunty said the Northampton store has grown so much that it does not have that much capacity to keep growing from that one store. She also added that a lot of local growers would like to do business with them so adding a second store increases the capacity to serve their customers, support local farmers and food producers, as well as provide additional jobs.
The new grocery store will be starting with 75 new jobs right away and quickly grow to 100 or more. Management positions for the Easthampton location are expected to open in March and in May they will take store position applications. Those interested in being the first to know about employment opportunities, can fill out a form online at www.rivervalley.coop under the employment tab.
Prunty also shared an opportunity for people who would like to get involved with River Valley Co-op but not work there. She said to help support the two grocery stores, people can join the co-op as an owner and although there are two stores, it is one co-op so owners will own both the Northampton and Easthampton grocery stores.
“A big part of the reason we were successful with the opening of the Northampton store, is that we had a lot of co-op owners that joined before the store opened. We are looking to add 3,000 new owners before the new store opens in June,” Prunty said.
She continued to say that it would help the store to have their Easthampton customers involved right from the start.
How to become an owner and the benefits of joining can be found on their website under the ownership tab.
Currently, River Valley Co-Op has eight vendors: Sage Meadow Soaps, Bershore Seafood, New City Brewery, Abandoned Building Brewery, and Fort Hill Brewery, Life Booch Kombucha, Crooked Stick Popsicle, and Pine Hill Orchard.
Prunty said any potential new vendors, can contact them using this link, http://rivervalley.coop/main-nav/our-co-op/become-a-vendor.
Although they have been building the new store in a pandemic, there have not been many delays. The construction of the new store began in February but had to stop in March because of COVID-19. After guidelines were put in place, construction resumed.
Construction has not been paused since then even though certain equipment and parts have been delayed due to the pandemic. Prunty shared their biggest delay has been the HVAC system that they planned on receiving. A few weeks after they purchased one in the summer the company informed them that they are no longer providing equipment to retail stores. She said it led to them scrambling to find another HVAC system. The first one that they purchased was set to come in December but now they have to wait until March.
Prunty said instead of the contractors from Wright Builders waiting for the system to come in, they have done all the necessary piping and are ready to connect everything when it comes in. She continued to say that the teamwork and coordination have been great.
Considering the unknown of the pandemic they have had to make changes in the design to be prepared to open under covid-19 guidelines. Prunty shared that instead of a big salad and hot bar, things are now more of a combination of service and grab and go prepackaged foods. She also said that they have a lot of outdoor seating so that will work well.
Prunty told Reminder Publishing that they are all most excited for their solar panels over the parking canopy and on the store’s roof. She shared that it is a separate project from the store itself and has its own timeline but the construction of that is moving along. They are also in the process of adding electric car chargers.
“We are very excited about being able to offset I think, all of the electricity we use with solar power,” Prunty said.
The purchase of the site for the store included the facility rented by Captain Jack’s Roadside Shack. To help them stay in business during construction, River Valley Co-op purchased a custom-built food concession trailer fully equipped to their specifications. Prunty said as soon as the grocery store receives permission to open, Captain Jack’s will too.
In the meantime, Captain Jack’s has been serving customers at 102 Northampton St., right across from the Tasty Top. According to a Facebook post from the owner, Kevin Sahagian, they temporarily closed in December and anticipate to be back in March, weather permitting.