‘Overwhelmed’ by support, Boise bakery owner ‘extremely happy’ Albertsons drops suit
Albertsons has dismissed Granny C’s Bakery and CopenRoss Growlers from its lawsuit filed against the owner of Hillcrest Shopping Center, the company announced in a statement Thursday. The Boise company is still suing FPA Shoppes, the landlord of the mall where the businesses are all located.
“When Albertsons filed these lawsuits at the end of July, we had no visibility into the lease agreements that had been provided to Granny C’s and CopenRoss Growlers,” John Colgrove, president of the Intermountain Division of Albertsons, said in a statement. “It was only when the details of Granny C’s lease agreement were made public that we learned about the discrepancies between their lease agreement and ours.”
Granny C’s Bakery owner Brad deBoer spoke with the Statesman in a phone interview following the news.
“We are extremely happy that Albertsons has decided not to sue us,” deBoer said. “And we were overwhelmed with the amount of community support that we’ve received for our little bakery. And we hope to continue to earn your business.”
Community support for the small business was evident by the lack of product on the shelves. At Granny C’s Bakery, pastries were sold out by noon on Wednesday, despite making three times the amount of goods as normal. On Thursday, the shop was closed by a little after 9:30 a.m. because it was once again sold out, pastry chef Heather deBoer, Brad’s daughter, told the Statesman.
The Central Bench Neighborhood Association had sent a letter to Albertsons, asking the grocery giant not to “resort to legal bullying tactics” to push out the bakery and nearby CopenRoss. A gathering at CopenRoss to support both businesses was planned for 6 p.m. Thursday, according to a public event scheduled on Facebook. It was not clear on Thursday afternoon whether the event was still happening, in light of Albertsons’ decision.
However, the company’s suit against the shopping center owner is far from resolved. So the future of Granny C’s and CopenRoss is still somewhat unknown.
“Our lease agreement from 1987 stipulates that the landlord must provide us with the opportunity to review businesses that might directly compete with products we sell,” Colgrove said in the statement. “The landlord didn’t uphold their obligations to Albertsons when the landlord recruited these new tenants for Hillcrest Shopping Center. Unfortunately, all three businesses have suffered damages as a result of the landlord’s failure to uphold its obligations to Albertsons under our original lease agreement.”
Colgrove also said that Albertsons “reached out to the business owners of Granny C’s and CopenRoss Growlers so that we can work together to resolve the issues that have arisen from the improper lease agreements” created by the landlord. He also cited Albertsons’ “long history of supporting local businesses big and small.”
CopenRoss Growlers declined to comment for this story.
This story was originally published August 8, 2019 at 4:02 PM.
