Ocmulgee Traders in downtown Macon is closed

About 17 months after it opened, Ocmulgee Traders in downtown Macon is closed.

The business, which housed a grocery store and a cafe at 455 Poplar St., is owned by Steve and Laura Bell of Macon. It opened in June 2014 in the rear portion of the Dannenberg Building.

The gourmet market carried produce, meats, staples and high-end foods, some of which were locally grown. It also offered salads, sandwiches, coffee and pastries in the cafe as well as beer and wine.

Josh Rogers, CEO/president of Newtown Macon, said the Bells put a sign on the door in October saying it would be closed from the 17th to the 24th.

"It never reopened," he said.

Steve Bell posted a message on Facebook Monday that said:

"What an adventure pulling a store together like Ocmulgee Traders, bringing unique and loved products downtown. The store's gross profit margin exceeded our expectations but we needed more volume. Unfortunately I personally can't sustain the store until the density of downtown grows with several projects in the next year. I"m (sic) afraid we're going to have to shut it down unless we get an immediate investor or buyer. Thank you all for your support."

Bell replied Wednesday in a private Facebook message to The Telegraph's request for comment.

"I've shut the doors while reorganizing things before I open back up," he said. "I have some interested parties that are interested in investing, which will make the store stronger."

But he mentioned again needing more customers.

"It is our intent for the store to remain open," he said. "People love it and it's sorely needed downtown. My only issue is that I can't come out of pocket myself like I have."

Rogers said NewTown folks began talking with Bell about the market about six months ago.

"It was a beautiful store," he said. "They did a wonderful job."

But Rogers agreed there just wasn't enough volume for the grocery store to operate.

"Looking ahead with how many lofts are under construction and planned, we know pretty well that we're going to get where we need to be to float a grocery store, and we know when we'll get there," he said. "But Steve and Laura weren't able to chart a course to hold out that long."

The store was a long time coming.

In early 2012, Bell planned to open a grocery store in the old post office annex building behind the post office on College Street. It was expected to anchor a large commercial center. But financing problems ultimately killed those plans.

Since then the Lofts at College Hill were built on the site.

By November 2013, Bell had decided to put Ocmulgee Traders on the ground floor of the Dannenberg, which has about 70 lofts on the upper floors.

Rogers said sometimes it's not clear if something will work until someone tries it.

"You do a market study and you know people are spending, say $5 million on groceries, ... but you don't what percent of those dollars you are going to capture until you try it," he said. "Maybe now, unfortunately, we know what that percentage is, and it's a little lower than necessary to float a grocery store right now."

Another issue that may have hurt Ocmulgee Traders is there are two stores within a few blocks that cater mostly to pedestrians looking for low-cost grocery staples, he said. So not only was Ocmulgee Traders competing for people looking for low-end products, but they had competition "on the upper end with people with cars who can travel" to another grocery store.

Rogers said he hopes the closure won't dissuade people from thinking a grocery store won't work downtown.

"One of the bad things about downtown is if an idea comes a little too early, everybody says, 'Oh no, well that will never work.' I hope this doesn't warn anybody off because it's not an idea that would never work. Steve and Laura's management ability aren't the problem. I think it's just timing, and we'll get to a place pretty soon where it will work."

Information from Telegraph archives was used in this story. To contact writer Linda S. Morris, call 744-4223 or follow her on Twitter@MidGaBiz.

This story was originally published November 11, 2015 at 6:13 PM with the headline "Ocmulgee Traders in downtown Macon is closed ."