MARLBORO — The dream of a group of volunteers to buy the former Sweetie's store on Route 9 has fallen through.
According to a post by Dan MacArthur at www.facebook.com/MarlboroStore, the Marlboro Community Store Working Group met on June 16 to set its next course of action.
The group has spent nearly two years trying to raise money. Although the group had a purchase and sale agreement with James St. Jean, the owner of the property, MacArthur wrote that the group was “not willing” to meet a June 13 deadline to come up with the funds to buy the store.
MacArthur wrote members agreed that “the various obstacles over the course of the project have made it hard to try to raise funds, and we agreed that the bottom line is that there is simply not enough money in the Co-op account to proceed with the store as we had visualized it.”
As a result, the plan is finished, and the group is looking at other options.
“The group brainstormed about possible future ventures the Co-op might take, such as leasing a property in Marlboro and operating a smaller store/cafe/deli, or opening up a buying club with a community gathering place to pick up the commodities and share a cup of tea,” MacArthur wrote.
The group claims roughly $225,000 in pledges, but decided on June 13 to suspend fundraising efforts.