In downtown Erie, the Erie Food Co-op and Gordon's Butcher and Market will no longer be part of the Flagship City Public Market.

"It was a heartbreaking decision to make," said Erie Food Co-op CEO LeAnna Nieratko. "We really believe in the mission. We really want to be able to provide fresh, affodable food downtown, and so to see this opportunity go away is heartbreaking, and we're just hoping for more in the future."

According to Nieratko, there were a number of factors that led to the mutual agreement with the Erie Downtown Development Corporation to end operations in downtown Erie.

"It was a perfect storm really," said Nieratko. "We had the construction issues, and we also had two back-to-back cooler failures and then the windstorm and the power outage took out a lot of the rest, so that was really the sign that it was time to close up."

For Gordon's owner Kyle Bohrer, the ongoing construction, lack of foot traffic, and a cooler malfunction also led to his decision.

"We had a food loss," said Bohrer. "We lost all of our inventory from a malfunction over Christmas, and I think it gave us a moment just to step back and say, pump the brakes, and re-evaluate and take a look at what we want to do in the future."

Bohrer will now focus on his Gordon's location on Peach Street, along with Firestone Restaurant.
Bohrer also plans to expand.

"We have a west side location," said Bohrer. "We bought the land out on W.26th and Millfair, so we're hoping to do a location out there some day. The interest rate environment right now, is kind of keeping the shovels out of the ground."

Meanwhile, Nieratko is focusing on the Erie Food Co-op's main location on W. 26th Street.

"Around here, we recently lost a supermarket that was on 26th street, and we're also losing a lot of drug stores," said Nieratko. "We know we're a community resource and we're just focusing on that we have whatever people need in this location."

Both Nieratko and Bohrer hope to see the public market succeed, moving forward.

"Everybody keep positive," said Bohrer. "I think sometimes it's easy to go down a negative path with some of this stuff. I know when I read the (Facebook) comments and everything like that, we're all Erieites and I think everyone has to understand that we're all working for this thing to work."

Drew Whiting of the EDDC tells Erie News Now that the organization is working hard to address the food desert in downtown Erie and that the public market will not be idle for very long.

According to Whiting, the EDDC is committed to re-opening a grocery option in downtown Erie, and they are making progress on identifying a partner.

Whiting says that it will not become another Dollar General, and that economic development efforts will universally fail without sustained private and public support.

More information can be found on the EDDC's website.