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Cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy this afternoon. High 29F. Winds light and variable..
Considerable cloudiness. Low 11F. Winds light and variable.
Updated: December 27, 2024 @ 10:16 am
Vermont Community Newspaper Group
Reporter
The proprietor of a new general store in Johnson has secured a $50,000 loan from the village’s revolving loan fund to increase access to groceries in the area.
Earlier this month, Mike Mignone announced plans to open a general store and deli in the building on Lower Main Street that until recently was home to the Get Yours paraphernalia shop.
Mignone, a longtime resident of Johnson, most recently operated Hangry Mike’s food truck in town and a CBD business. He had been looking to return the former Get Yours location to its former life as a deli but concluded after working with a group looking to promote food access in town that residents needed a source for groceries that wasn’t a gas station or dollar store.
As a new dad who had already invested heavily in his food truck, Mignone was reluctantly seeking outside funds to help jumpstart the new general store venture. The fundraiser started by the food access group that came out of the “Reimagine Johnson” process is now $2,000 over its $25,000 goal, at the time of this writing.
At the Johnson Village Board of Trustees meeting earlier this month, Mignone was able to secure a three-year loan with a nearly 4 percent interest rate by putting his food truck up as collateral.
Mignone told trustees he had already put $10,000 of his own money toward the lease of the building, which its current owners are allowing him to apply toward its eventual purchase. He’s also going use the upper floor of the building as a short-term rental.
Mignone said the loan would primarily be put toward the purchase of retail equipment and stock. The new store owner told the News & Citizen previously that he hoped to stock groceries across a wide spectrum of price points to cater to Johnson’s class-diverse community, along with a selection of prepared food.
Johnson has been without a grocery store since the flood of July 2023, when Sterling Market, a property that has historically suffered even during minor flooding, was put out of business.
Initially looking to return the location to its heyday as DJ’s Deli, Mignone turned to the idea of a general store after seeing firsthand how many residents in Johnson village had limited access to vehicles and after sitting in on a “Reimagine Johnson” food access taskforce discussion where support for an alternative to a Sterling Market grocery was discussed.
Ernie Pomerleau, whose Pomerleau Real Estate owns the Sterling Market property, hoped Associated Grocers of New England would return to the property after the flood, but when that faltered, he pursued an arrangement with Shaw’s grocery stores.
Pomerleau recently confirmed Shaw’s has moved on after its initial consideration, leaving the future of the property more uncertain than ever.
Mignone told the trustees that he hoped to open the general store by late January or early February.
“We’re really trying to do this as quickly as possible,” Mignon said. “I see so many people just grocery shopping at Mobil, and a lot of them can’t even make it to the Dollar General. I didn’t realize how many people don’t drive until I started the food truck.”
Reporter
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