Customers buy Country Sun, avert closure

For Country Sun, the venerable organic produce store on California Avenue in Palo Alto, the holiday season felt particularly festive this year.

In late October, the owners of the market at 440 California Ave. were on the verge of closing down the market, citing slumping sales and shifts in consumers’ shopping habits. Customers learned at that time that the store would be closing in late December, and its shelves gradually began to grow sparser.

Country Sun customers mourned the impending loss of a treasured, longtime community business, while area merchants and city leaders lamented the prospect of yet a gaping vacancy in Palo Alto’s “second downtown.”

“The news of us closing was very sad, and it definitely caught us by surprise,” said Kevin Wright, a longtime vitamin buyer for Country Sun. “We had a few weeks in November when we thought it was the end and were bracing for that.”

Many shoppers came in to thank staff and to express their dismay at the closure. But two of them went a step further: They bought Country Sun.

The two individuals, who live in Palo Alto, have opted to stay anonymous, but they confirmed with the Weekly their purchase of the business. They completed the deal in mid-December, shortly after Country Sun put out a message on its social media channels indicating that it was “back in business.”

The deal wasn’t yet sealed at the time of the Dec. 11 posting, and most store employees didn’t know what was going on. The following week, however, the buyers finalized the purchase, ensuring Country Sun would remain on California Avenue.

“Someone from the community came through and saved the day in the last hour,” Wright said. “It was really special and amazing to see it happen.”

Wright said the market’s new owners are frequent customers who are well-known to Country Sun staff.

“They were so moved by the news of us closing that they wanted to do something about it,” he said.

To save Country Sun, the community members pooled their resources, created a business plan and solicited advice from other small business owners, including Dandelion Chocolates and Bumblebee, according to the new owners. They also reached out to Radiate Hospitality, which recently purchased the building.

The company agreed to reduce Country Sun’s rent, particularly in the first year of the lease, said John Searby, senior vice president at Radiate Hospitality. He declined to discuss the specifics of the rent reduction.

“We’re a local company. We’re based in Palo Alto ourselves and we want to support local business and the community whenever we can,” Searby told this publication. “We worked together and we came up with a deal that still met our needs while helping the team go ahead with the acquisition.”

Searby said that in offering a reduced rent, Radiate was encouraged by the fact both the employees and the customers of Country Sun all strongly supported the new ownership.

“We were happy to see the business preserved and continuing,” Searby said. “It’s an important part of California Avenue and the Palo Alto community.”

As a result, instead of winding down its inventory, Country Sun is planning for the future. Its former CEO Scott Otte has departed, the Weekly has learned, and employees are now in talks about the next phase of leadership. Wright is part of a group of store managers who are now considering what the new leadership structure will look like, he said.

The store has occupied its prominent location on California Avenue since 1980, having moved there from a smaller building at 364 California Ave. Originally called Earth Sign Natural Foods, the store launched in Menlo Park in the 1970s before relocating to Palo Alto.

Wright said the goal is to retain all the qualities that customers have come to love about Country Sun, which has been specializing in natural and organic food since its inception.

“As far as identity, we’re not going to change at all. I think we’re going to be Country Sun more than ever.”

This means putting more emphasis on the things that make the store a standout in the area: organic produce, gluten-free and grain-free options and a large section for vitamins and dietary supplements.

“Country Sun has deep roots in the area,” Wright said. “We want it to stay the same as it’s always been.”

At the same time, Wright said he wants to see Country Sun increase its community engagement and be a more prominent member of the California Avenue business landscape. Its recent experience of being on the verge of closure and then getting saved by customers has made store employees excited and motivated for the store’s next phase.

“We want to reconnect with the community and become a bigger part of California Avenue, and we want the community to know, ‘We need you now more than ever,'” Wright said.