SCOTT: GSCM closes doors after 5 years
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By Carmen Ensinger
After five years in business on the Winchester Square, the Great Scott Community Market has decided to close and sell its remaining stock at reduced prices.
In a press release sent out via its Facebook page on Nov. 9, GSCM announced that a going out of business sale began on Friday, Nov. 10.
The Market opened its doors on Aug. 28, 2018, following over two years of organizing and planning by local community members.
“The Market was created to fill a need – to provide Winchester with a grocery story,” GSCM Board Member John Paul Coonrod said. “Many will recall that prior to its opening, buying a banana or a head of lettuce required a drive to neighboring Pike or Morgan County.”
During its time, the Market truly excelled.
“It was a beautiful space, with its built-in shelves and its floor to ceiling windows which opened onto the town square,” Coonrod said. “Staffed and run by friends and neighbors, students and parents alike, it was always welcoming.”
It provided produce grown by the Mueller family of Bluffs; it provided sweets baked in-house by Sue Coonrod and Joe Burk. It partnered with Lashmett’s Meat Market (which will continue to operate independently) to provide beef raised just outside the town limits. It sold local eggs and produce from backyard gardens.
“For a time, it was the only place in Scott County where a person could buy a bottle of wine, or fresh deli meat. It was certainly the only place to buy a pineapple,” Coonrod said. “People could come to the Market, and though it was tiny for a grocery store, generally find just what they needed to cook dinner. It did what it needed to do and more.”
However, with the opening of the new Dollar General Market in Winchester, there are now two grocery stores in town, which, realistically, is one more than a town the size of Winchester can be expected to support.
“In other words, Great Scott Market has served its purpose,” Coonrod said. “And, like all good things eventually do, its time has come to an end.”
The Board and Officers of Great Scott Market wish to extend their gratitude to the investors who provided the store with the means to first open up, to its loyal customers who sustained the store through thick and thin, to Thomas Coonrod for his steady management and outstanding meals and to all those who believed in and contributed to the market during its operation.
