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From the Desk of...

Flint Veteran Opens
Downtown Grocery

Gary Bates
Owner: Witherbee's Market

Flint, MI, some may argue, is the epicenter of our nation’s economic woes. Board up buildings, abandoned homes only a few blocks from busy Saginaw Street. Parking meters have been removed after numerous thefts of the coin boxes made the idea futile.

Throw in the nation’s highest unemployment rate and, well, you get the picture.

But in recent years, despite the gloom and doom, there’s been a renaissance of sorts on the streets of America’s poster child for economic tough times.

The University of Michigan-Flint has recently opened student dorms on its downtown campus, changing the atmosphere of Flint being a commuter school community.

Restaurants have opened where empty buildings once stood.

And the latest downtown improvement will soon swing open its doors, thanks in part to the efforts of an Army veteran and former city of Flint administrator Gary Bates.

The 7,000-square-foot store will offer fresh fruits, vegetables and meats, have a deli counter and sell a variety of Michigan-made and -grown products.

And, in keeping with its emphasis on a healthy lifestyle, the market will not offer liquor, tobacco products or lottery tickets.

"We'll have soups, salads and fresh meats." Bates said. "We want to really give customers a chance to eat healthy." Flint, the birthplace of General Motors and once GM's biggest plant town, has struggled as the automaker has closed factories, laid off thousands of local workers and slashed its presence in this once bustling industrial center.

In recent years, thanks to the efforts of community leaders and some fearless entrepreneurs, Flint's downtown business district has rebounded. Closed and boarded-up storefronts are disappearing, replaced by new restaurants, shops and student housing for area colleges. Revitalization efforts have been so successful that it even was necessary recently to build a new parking structure in downtown Flint.

But a grocery store was missing from the mix.

To change that, area residents turned to Flint's non-profit Neighborhood Improvement & Preservation Project (NIPP).

The 30-year-old program works to reverse deteriorating neighborhoods and promote self-sufficiency, innovation and neighborhood enterprise. Over the years, it has helped more than 30,000 families in Flint and Genesee County.

In all of those years, however, NIPP has never been involved in development of a grocery store, said Bates, who is treasurer of NIPP's board of directors.

However, NIPP saw the need for the grocery store and set out to develop one.

"Flint NIPP's role has always been about housing. We've been around since the 1970s," Bates said during a recent interview. "But neighborhoods need more than housing."

"We looked at this as a whole new way to achieve neighborhood stabilization."

"Area residents are chomping at the bit to see the market open."

NIPP worked with the non-profit Local Initiatives Support Corp. (LISC) to obtain grants and loans for the $1-million project. Genesee County's Land Bank paid to clean up the site.

The grocery store will be called Witherbee's Market. It is at the northwest corner of Martin Luther King and University avenues, just north of the downtown Flint central business district.

It will be housed in a building that was once a Buick dealership and later a Goodyear tire and repair shop.

The new grocery store will be operated by three owner/managers, Bates said.

"Once the store is open, we'll be like silent partners."

He said the goal is for the trio to buy out NIPP and LISC and take over ownership and control of the market in about five years.

Witherbee's is expected to have 10 to 15 mostly part-time employees.

Bates said it is projected that the store will draw 60 percent of its customers from nearby area residents. Another 20 percent of its customers will come from local colleges. The remainder are expected to be workers in the downtown area.

Bates grew up in Flint and after high school attended Flint's Mott Community College. After graduating from there with a two-year degree, he was drafted into the Army and spent two years as a medic, stationed at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.

Returning home in 1972, he earned a bachelor's degree from Ferris State University in Big Rapids and a master's degree from Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant.

He spent a total of more than 22 years working for the city of Flint, rising to acting city administrator, before retiring.

Bates, who lives in Burton, now teaches marketing and management at Baker College of Flint. He also teaches classes and seminars on "low cost marketing" for VetBiz Central. At Baker, Bates thought it might make sense to involve students in development of the downtown market. With the support and "invaluable help" of Dr. John Cote, Baker's dean of business administration, Bates said he has seen that involvement blossom and grow.

Students at Baker helped design the Witherbee's Market logo, helped develop the store's marketing plan and helped create the store's human resources handbook. Interior design students worked with the architect on the interior and exterior design of the store.

"The students love it," Bates said. "They get real life experience and Witherbee's gets free expertise and help."

"And, once the store is up and running, we can put accounting students and others in as co-op students."

Details about the store and NIPP are available on NIPP's Web Site.

Carl Stoddard

Carl Stoddard
Maj. MIARNG (Ret.)

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