MONKTON — The Monkton General Store has announced that it will close at the end of the year.
“It is with a very heavy heart that we are announcing the closing of our wonderful little store,” wrote owners Sam and Darcee Alderman on the store’s Facebook page Monday afternoon. “We tried to make the necessary changes to ensure that we would be here indefinitely but unfortunately the costs of running a country store are just too much, and having to compete with big oil made it impossible.”
The store nearly closed last March, when the Vermont Department of Taxes notified the Aldermans that they had five days to come up with a quarter of the $90,000 in sales taxes they owed the state.
“As many know, small general stores in our state are struggling to (stay) open,” the Aldermans explained at the time. “Unfortunately, at this time, we are one of them.”
In an effort to meet the tax deadline, the owners appealed to the community for help and were met with an outpouring of support — shoppers, heavy tippers and an employee who raised more than $8,000 through a GoFundMe campaign.
But the remaining debt and recurring expenses have proved insurmountable, and on Monday the Aldermans were seeking community assistance one last time.
“We are kindly asking everyone to come shop and clear out the store,” they wrote on Facebook. “Essentially nothing can be returned and we are hoping that we will be able to pay off all our vendors and creditors.”
Darcee Alderman hopes that her side business, Alderman’s of Vermont Chocolate Candy Confections, will persist, she told customers and fans.
“Our plan is to liquidate the store and pay off our tax debt to ensure we can keep our licenses,” she said, adding that Alderman’s hopes to continue selling chocolate products through other stores.
“While we are so sad to see our store go, we want to thank everyone who has come to our store over the years and helped keep us going,” the Aldermans concluded. “We will treasure all the shared laughs, pictures, stories, occasional tears and jokes that we had over the last 12 1/2 years. It has been an honor to know you all.”
Reach Christopher Ross at [email protected].