Jackson Free Press

The following is a verbatim press release from Rainbow Coop:

The Rainbow Coop Board of Directors voted to seek Chapter 11 reorganization protection at its March meeting.

We are seeking the protection of the Court for two reasons:

Flooding - There is no end in sight. Ever since the completion of St. Martin's expansion to the north, we have suffered over $350,000 in lost sales and clean up costs directly due to flooding. We have been forced to close for a total of thirty-four days during these events. The City of Jackson bears most of the responsibility by authorizing St. Martin's to move forward without the approval of the Site Plan Review Committee, as mandated by the City Council. Twice, the City has attempted and failed to remedy the situation. For our part, we have spent $10,000 on improving the service drive drainage, over $6,000 on a flood gate and hundreds of dollars on sandbags, all of which have failed to keep the water out during over two dozen major flood events. At this time, the threat of future flooding, and the ensuing catastrophic loss, remains all too real.

Parking - This has been the number one complaint of every Customer Survey since moving to Fondren in 1998. With the rapid growth of the Fondren area, the lack of public parking has gone from inadequate to nearly impossible, as many of you have told us. We share your frustration.

Our current location, while attractive in so many ways, has sadly become unviable.

The time has come to act. We are taking the necessary steps to insure that our Cooperative, the only one of it's kind in the State, not only survives, but is in a position to thrive and grow.

We are moving forward under new management and will keep you informed of significant events and decisions that affect your Coop. Our plan is to continue to serve our Community.

In the meantime, we are asking for your support. Come shop with us! Bankruptcy has freed up some funds and we’re spending them on the healthy, all-natural products that you want. Those are arriving now, and next week our natural vendors will provide us with even more goods.

If you do business with Rainbow and have a question pertaining to the Chapter 11 case specifically, you may contact our attorney, Walter Newman, 601-948-0586 Case No. 18-01604-E.

For all other inquiries please feel free to call our new manager, Bryan Carrero, at the store, 601-366-1602.

Finally, if you are a shareholder or member-owner, we will be in further contact with you soon, regarding more detailed plans for how we plan to utilize your investment and the incredible worth of your cooperative.

Bryan Carrero

General Manager

Rainbow Natural Grocery Cooperative