Butson's to shut down after 43 years

Butson's, Laconia's only supermarket, will be shutting down by the end of October according to employees of the South Main Street fixture who were notified of the closure yesterday.

"We heard that Shaw's bought seven Butson's stores and they'll be closing those that compete directly with existing Shaw's stores," a Butson's employee, who wished to remain anonymous, said yesterday. "We're one of the stores to be closed."

The closing deals another sharp blow to downtown Laconia which has been struggling to attract and retain major retailers. Not only does it mean the loss of fifty jobs in what is already a shaky job market, it also means hardship for many of the people who have come to rely upon the neighborhood grocer.

"It's going to be real hard on the residents at Sunrise Towers," observed Beth Arsenault, a board member of the Laconia Main Street program which is working to expand the number of retailers in the city's downtown core. "A lot of the residents in the area don't have the resources or the availability of transportation to shop elsewhere."

Deborah Gorman, Executive Director of the Main Street Program, expressed similar sentiments. "As the Main Street program we are saddened and disappointed to hear of Butson's announcement to close," she said. "Although the Main Street program is about economic revitalization, it's also about people."

"We feel we aren't just losing a long-time grocer who offers quality service and products," she added. "We're losing a neighbor and a part of our downtown community."

Opened as an IGA in 1960 by Peter Gordon, the 25,000 square foot grocery was state-of-the-art, offering Laconians the latest in variety and convenience.

"There was a Grand Union, a First National and an A & P," Gordon recalled last evening. "We had a lot of competition."

Gordon and his successors must have done something right, for the store outlived its competition, building a loyal customer base even as ownership changed hands. Gordon sold the store in 1973 to Wettereau Foods, which subsequently sold it to Peter Dole, a Gilford resident who still owns the building. According to Gordon it was in the late 1980s when Dole sold out the grocery business to Butson's.

But even that wasn't the last of the transactions, as Butson's was acquired in 1996 by Supervalu, a Minneapolis-based company that is the nation's 11th largest food retailer and its largest food wholesaler, operating supermarkets under a variety of names, including Biggs, Cub Foods, Farm Fresh, Hornbacher's, Save-A-Lot, Shop 'n Save, Scotts and SFW Shoppers.

According to Lynne High, a corporate spokesperson at Supervalu's Minneapolis headquarters, the Butson's stores were shed as part of a deal with C & S Wholesale Grocers, Inc. announced on September 15. "Butson's was part of a transaction — an asset exchange between Supervalu and C & S," she explained.

C & S, based in Brattleboro, Vermont, is a privately owned company with annual sales approaching $13 billion. The company is the 11th largest privately held company in the nation, as ranked by Forbes magazine, and its principle business focus is on wholesaling, not retailing. According to High, most of the assets acquired by C & S were warehouses and other distribution facilities, with Butson's not being a significant part of the deal.

That may explain why the Vermont firm decided so quickly to find a buyer for the Butson's supermarkets, which according to an Associated Press story in July 2001 pegged the chain as the fourth largest in New Hampshire when measured by sales, trailing DeMoulas, Shaw's and Hannaford Brothers.

Shaw's, the reputed buyer, could not be reached for comment last evening, but Dole's wife, Beverly, confirmed that they'd been notified of the pending deal two to three weeks ago. "But I really don't know any of the details," she said.

Butson's loss has City Councilor Jim Cowan concerned. Located within his Ward, Cowan said that not only does he frequently shop there, but a large number of his constituents depend upon its convenient location. "This might be one of those major blows where the city should be bringing in an economic development director," he suggested last evening. "It's a major setback of such dimension that it requires a coordinated effort."

For the employees, it's an especially difficult time, particularly with the holidays rapidly approaching. "They said we'd get one week's severance pay for each year we've worked," explained one employee. "But we don't know where we'll find jobs."

But even more upsetting, he said, was the loss it would mean to what has been an extended family. "We're all family here," he said sadly. "It's really going to be difficult — we're all so close."