AUSTIN, Texas — The general manager of long-time Austin business Wheatsville Co-op says the company's Guadalupe Street location will likely close in the next few years.
Bill Bickford said in a special edition of Wheatsville's newsletter that this spring, the company celebrates 48 years of serving the community. But he said the location Wheatsville has called home for 43 of those years is facing several challenges.
Bickford said the first of several issues the location faces has to do with Project Connect. He said the planned Orange Line – now referred to as Austin Light Rail Phase 1 – will impact the co-op's operations first because construction could lead to sales declines because customers will have difficulty entering the parking lot and even getting to the co-op. Similarly, Bickford said that the latest available engineering drawings show that drivers and pedestrians won't be able to cross the center lane anywhere near the store and the current nearby crosswalk will be gone.
However, Bickford said Project Connect's greatest threat to operations at the Guadalupe location would be the impact to the store's ability to receive large trucks.
"Currently, most supply vehicles back into our delivery lane by pulling onto 31st street in front of Via 313 and reversing across Guadalupe," Bickford wrote. "As currently conceived, the Orange Line infrastructure in the center lane of the road will make it completely impossible to cross. While some smaller delivery trucks can make the turn around the building, the 18-wheelers our primary suppliers use cannot."
Bickford said Wheatsville has been in communication with the Austin Transit Partnership, the organization behind Project Connect, about this problem, but a solution hasn't been identified.
But Bickford said even if solutions could be found to the issues presented by Project Connect, those aren't the only problems the Guadalupe location is dealing with.
One issue is that parts of the building date back to 1940 and would need renovations in the coming years – investment Bickford says Wheatsville "cannot necessarily afford and that would likely have more return in some other location."
Additionally, Bickford said sales have been declining at the Guadalupe location for more than a decade, at the same time that expenses have increased.
"It is not realistic to think we can grow sales at a pace necessary to make the Guadalupe location sustainable, nor that increased investment there is financially sound long-term," Bickford wrote.
In the newsletter, Bickford listed three possible options for Wheatsville if the Guadalupe location is to close:
- Pursue relocation to a site with a similar footprint and store format as the current Guadalupe store
- Become a single-store co-op and focus all efforts on strengthening the South Lamar location
- Move forward with small-format stores
Regardless of what the company chooses to do next, Bickford said unless there is a change in circumstances, the plan is to close the Guadalupe location when the current lease expires on Dec. 31, 2026.
"I recognize that this is likely a challenging message for co-op owners to hear. Please know that it is also a tough message to share," Bickford wrote in part. "Much of my adult life has been defined and influenced by my relationship with that store, its staff, and its customers. If you find the idea of potentially closing the chapter on our Guadalupe store heartbreaking, I can certainly sympathize."
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Anyone with thoughts, questions or "even just a fond Guadalupe memory" can email guadalupe@wheatsville.com.
Bickford also said customers are welcome to share feedback with him (bbickford@wheatsville.com) or the Board of Directors (boardemail@wheatsville.com), but "between the planned changes to the corridor and our current sales trajectory at the location, we do not currently see a viable long-term future for our Guadalupe store."