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Back in business, Gordy’s seeks to rebuild relationships

Bob Zientara | Barron News-Shield
Feb 7, 2018 Updated 6 hrs ago
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At the Gordy’s Markets in Barron and three other Northwest Wisconsin locations, shelves are restocked, employees are drawing paychecks and, perhaps most importantly, customers are buying groceries, meat, poultry and seafood, and canned and fresh produce.

More than five months after creditors forced Chippewa Falls-based Gordy’s into receivership, the restructured company is once again serving customers in Barron, Chetek, Cornell and Ladysmith.

Two officials who were closely connected to the process stopped in Barron Thursday, Feb. 1, to talk about rebuilding relationships between Gordy’s and the communities in which it continues to do business.

Jeff Schafer, who came out of retirement last year to resume his position as Gordy’s corporate president, was joined by Chris Williamson, director of corporate retail for St. Paul, Minn.-based SpartanNash (formerly known as Nash Finch), Gordy’s Markets’ main grocery supplier, and its largest creditor during the receivership process.

Joining them was Alex Zamarippa, manager of the Barron Gordy’s store.

Schafer said his presence here was one of a series of meetings he is having with news operations and businesses in the four communities where Gordy’s reacquired stores lost in the receivership process.

“All of (the financial restructuring), all of the owed money, is in the past,” Schafer said. “We want to let people know that, and that we have a solid relationship with SpartanNash. We apologize for letting our customers down. But we’re back, and we will prove ourselves.”

Williamson agreed.

“Gordy’s is a family operation that has supported its communities for more than 50 years,” he said. “People hit a bad patch of road sometimes, but we have a strong partnership with Gordy’s. We’re placing our bets on people rather than projects.”

SpartanNash considers the Gordy’s ownership team “friends, not just partners,” Williamson said. “They have earned that right.”

Moreover, he said, SpartanNash views Gordy’s as “a solid family organization (with) a long-term presence” in the communities where Gordy’s has reestablished itself.

In each of the three communities, Gordy’s will operate its business in buildings owned by others.

Williamson said Nash-Finch will continue to own the Barron building, which has been extensively remodeled in recent years, first by former owner Mega! Co-op and, later, by Gordy’s. Thomas and Jane Kurschner own the store in Chetek, and La Crosse-based Reinhart Food Services owns the Ladysmith store, Williamson added.

Combined, the three stores attract up to 17,000 customers per week, he and Schafer said.

Schafer said he is grateful to the employees who work at the three “reacquired” stores, and for the effort they put forth during the receivership process.

“Our key people stuck with us,” he said. “They were out there on the front lines dealing with the issues that came up (during receivership). I know how hard it was for them to come to work.”