ELDERTON COUNTRY MARKET GRINCH

As a Grandmother, one of the highlights of my year is the gathering of my family around the Thanksgiving table. However, the joy of our Thanksgiving was tainted by what happened to my daughter as she was shopping for last minute groceries at Elderton Country Market. On Wednesday, November 21, 2007, as my daughter was doing the last of the Thanksgiving shopping, she was approached by an assistant manager. The manager was holding old grapes, a half eaten apple, and half a banana; all wrapped in cellophane. In front of other shoppers, the manager harshly told my daughter that she had found these items and accused my three year old granddaughter of eating them and leaving them throughout the store on multiple occasions.

It is important to note that my daughter was shopping alone, without my granddaughter. My daughter calmly questioned the accusing manager why she had singled out her three year old. The manager informed her that someone supposedly had seen her daughter with these items although the manager herself had not. When my daughter asked for the proof the manager was using to accuse her three year old, the owner of Elderton Country Market was summoned. He, not having been a witness to any of these events, sternly and surely reinforced what the assistant manager had accused.

Once again, my daughter stated that it was not her three year old that ate these items. My granddaughter has never eaten grapes nor bananas in this store. She had picked out an apple in the past and eaten part of it, but my daughter has always paid up to $2.00 per apple upon checking out. Two dollars for a single apple is a lot, but my daughter has always paid for any apples my granddaughter picked up to eat. At this point, the owner cruelly and unsympathetically told her that she and her three year old daughter were no longer welcome in the store.

My husband and I have been shopping at Elderton Country Market for many years, prior to the new owner, and have appreciated the special attention given not only to adult shoppers, but their children as well. Following the events of November 21, I spoke to several other members of the community and have sadly learned that my daughter’s case is not unique. The singling out and persecution of families at Elderton Country Market is apparently a common occurrence. John Grabowski has taken a time honored small community market, and turned it into a cold, heartless money machine. Elderton Country Market is no longer the place where everyone is treated like family but instead where everyone is seen as a dollar sign.

Sally Kaufman
Elderton Native.