Davis Market owners to close store Saturday, have tentative hopes for future co-op

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After a year of staffing shortages, pandemic protocols and attempts to raise funds to purchase the property, the owners of the Davis Market & Cafe will be closing their doors after their efforts to keep the store open fell short.

The store’s last day will be Saturday, July 10, with the last day for the restaurant Friday.

Ross and Jamie Davis said they had been planning to purchase the property for the store last year when their business funding fell through because of the pandemic. Without that purchase, their lease is set to expire in August.

As they’ve worked to keep the grocery store and cafe running, staff shortages and increasing property values have made it impossible for them to purchase the property on their own.

To help offset higher housing and rental costs, the couple increased wages so their staff could make a livable income, Ross said. However, those higher property costs also means that while Ross and Jamie were set to purchase the property last year, it’s now out of their price range.

“With the way prices are going, I don’t blame [the property owner],” Ross said. “I’d want a little bit more, too.”

Originally, Jamie said, the couple was hoping to save the market by creating a community cooperative. Whether that’s possible is uncertain, but they’re still open to helping build a community co-op, Jamie said.

“We have a group of community investors together, but it will take time and effort to put it all together and we are just exhausted. We have made the heartbreaking decision to close the store,” Jamie wrote in a later email. “We would be willing to open again as a cooperative if we get enough community members on board, but without a lease or enough staff, the market has to close. However, if enough people want to see the store in Hope reopen and can help us collaborate to open a community cooperative. We would be happy to help.”

In a Facebook post Thursday, the couple wrote that although it was not the ending they envisioned, they hoped other opportunities might present themselves.

“We need some time to think and pivot, and, most importantly, to spend some time as a family and recover,” they wrote. “This has been an incredible [three] years and we are SO SO grateful. Thank you for everything.”

The couple’s idea for a cooperative, however unsure, would provide the community a grocery store, and a place to gather if it were brought to fruition. In Hope, only a few other places can serve that role.

“I can’t tell you how many times it’s happened, [but] there are people that meet each other here after 15 years because there wasn’t anywhere for them to meet before,” Ross said.

Maintaining a cooperative would also mean providing a steady living wage to community members, Jamie said, and making sure the community has easier access to groceries and putting less work on their family’s shoulders alone.

“We’re a food desert out here,” she said, “[and] we provide organic produce and fresh food.”

Though Ross and Jamie would be open to helping to develop a co-op, it wouldn’t be their family business if one were started, Ross said — it would need to be community-driven.

“We’d definitely have a stake in it,” Ross said, “[but we would] turn it into something owned and operated by the community.”

Since taking over the business three years ago, Jamie said, the couple has wanted to prioritize serving the community. That’s even more important now that the population density in the area is increasing.

Sandpoint doesn’t have the housing to accommodate all the new arrivals to the area, Ross said, and he expects some of those people will spill into Hope. Anecdotally, the couple has heard that some new residents moved to town because there’s a grocery store.

While chain stores and restaurants exist, Ross said, they don’t give back the same way.

“The other big restaurants make their money in the summer and close for the winter,” Ross said. “We’re here all year round, and our whole structure is based on serving the locals.”

Should hopes for a cooperative fall through, Jamie said the family may be moving their business to Sandpoint, as there are not currently any other available business spaces for them in Hope.

Although the certainty of a community co-op, or potential Sandpoint business is still unclear, Jamie said the couple plans to finish strong on their last days at the Davis Market, and will host live music with Pamela Jean performing Friday from 5-7 p.m. On Saturday, Mich LS will perform at 11 a.m., and Ponderay Paradox will perform from 5-7 p.m.

“We decided not to cancel the music, but instead if we have to close, we will close on a high note,” Jamie wrote. “[We’re making it a] fun celebration of live music with our community.”