Despite the fanfare surrounding its summertime opening, Ripka”™s Bridgeport Market closed its doors late December.
The first downtown grocery store in years, the store was heralded as a symbol of the renaissance of burgeoning Bridgeport. The downtown population is expected to triple over the next few years, as new development projects finish construction. And to prepare, the city had assembled a key list of ingredients any livable city needs: entertainment, restaurants, retail and a grocery store.
But it seems Ripka”™s arrival was too early.
“There was tremendous amounts of interest in seeing this market open,” said owner Clyde Ripka. The landlord had received a $2 million loan from the Department of Economic and Community Development to outfit the space as a grocery store.
But not enough traffic came through to sustain it, Ripka said, “plain and simple.”
Similar to a Whole Foods in appearance rather than price, the market included fresh ”” sometimes local ”” produce, a bakery, cafe and bar. The next closest grocery store is four miles outside of downtown.
“The expense of running a facility like this was thought out based on projections that did not come close to what the reality beared out,” Ripka said, who also owns markets in Stamford and Norwalk. “Stopping the slide was akin to stopping an 18-wheeler downhill with a hand brake. But we did adjust, just not fast enough, and sales never materialized as I expected.”
Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch was a key cheerleader for the market, personally recommending the butcher and fish market. But with the closing, Finch urged others to remain positive.
“When something closes like this, people tend to think negatively,” he said. “It”™s a shame Clyde isn”™t going to be here, making money, but someone else will.”
In two years another 300 people are expected to move downtown, he said. Additionally four developers are currently looking into properties on the north end, promising further development.
“It was our first grocer downtown; there will be another,” Finch said. “We”™ll just have to keep our fingers crossed that the property manager can find another grocer to go in there.”
Emotional about the closing, Ripka said there was nothing he”™d love more than to see the market open, serving the community.
“My goal was to become part of this community in many ways,” he said. “I know that Bridgeport needs a market downtown. I believe everyone likes the idea of a market, including this one, but unfortunately what many didn”™t take to heart is that it needs constant support from the immediate community.”
Ripka said the market didn”™t receive any orders for Thanksgiving and that half of those in the business and civic community didn”™t attended the market”™s week of giving after reserving spots.
Advising the location”™s future grocer, Ripka said to keep pressing the community to stay involved and market locally first.
“Be aware that this store is so beautiful people imagine it being more expensive than it is,” he said. “That was always going to be an issue. We kept our prices down but still people thought we were expensive. It was a tiresome conversation.”
This is what happens when government gives money to private enterprise. If the market was really sustainable and there was a need for it, a business plan could have been created that did not need the free government loans.