"Customers join to buy country store" Associated Press, November 25, 2012
A popular country store and gathering place in Western Massachusetts
has been bought by its loyal customers and turned into a cooperative.
The Old Creamery Grocery in Cummington was bought by 550 member-owners
for $1.3 million. The new owners include locals as well as people from
as far away as California who own homes in the area. The president of
the board of directors, Kimberly Longey, told The Berkshire Eagle that
the price includes the property, the inventory, and a renovation and
expansion project. The co-op plans to expand existing store space by 20
percent, improve the parking area and grounds, and add an outdoor dining
area and ice cream window. The Old Creamery will remain open during
renovations. All 26 employees will stay on. The Creamery opened in 1886
as a dairy farmer’s processing plant."
