Local Bounty closing Oct. 28
Local Bounty will be closing its doors on Oct. 28. Until then the year round farmers market will be open from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays. Josie Sellers | Beacon
COSHOCTON – Coshocton will say goodbye to its year round farmers market at the end of this month.
In September the members and vendors of Local Bounty, Inc. announced that they made the very difficult decision to close their doors for business on Saturday, Oct. 28. Until then, the store will be open from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays.
“I think it was a situation where basically the economy of the area finally hit us,” said Carol Rinehart a long time vendor at Local Bounty.
Local Bounty, located on State Route 83 next to Lake Park, was previously opened five days a week, but those hours came to an end on Sept. 30. The organization had received a two year $100,000 USDA Farmers Market Promotion Program grant that helped with the extended hours, paying for two employees and promotions such as its website.
“The grant helped quite a bit and for a period of time we were doing extremely well,” Rinehart said. “The grant has expired though and I think factory closings just hit us. We had a huge percentage of people leave the area and that affected us. The grant was very helpful, but it was just for a period of time. It did get us out there though and helped boost our exposure to everyone.”
Local Bounty is in its seventh year of business and Rinehart is one of 32 vendors. She sold a variety of items at the store over the years. She especially enjoyed that because it was year round, she could make specialty items like gift boxes of fudge at Christmas time.
“I liked the one on one contact and getting to know the customers,” she said. “I really appreciated the support we got from people locally and from surrounding counties.”
Many of the vendors have business cards with their products at Local Bounty and consumers will be able to contact them directly to get their products.
“I’m going to miss seeing the vendors and all their interesting and creative products,” Rinehart said. “We have some very talented people. We really appreciate everyone and thank them for their support over the years.”
For more information on Local Bounty, call 740-622-1400, look them up on Facebook or visit www.localbountycoshocton.com.
Category: Business
