New Jersey’s Oldest Natural Foods Store Files Chapter 7
Earlier this year, the oldest natural foods store in New Jersey filed for bankruptcy. While that case is still being decided, one of the company’s two stores closed its doors this week, The Times of Trenton reported.
Olive May, a grocery store specializing in organic and homemade foods, dates back to the first store opened by sisters Olive and Lena May in East Orange in 1924.
Two years ago, Nasar Arain opened a second store in Princeton. This store was a separate corporation from the original, which will remain open. The Princeton store struggled to pay rent, real estate taxes and buy new product. The Times also reports that customers had become concerned about the future of the store after shelves were often bare and understocked.
In January, the Princeton Store filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Bankruptcy courts, however, forced the company into a Chapter 7 bankruptcy in July.
Court documents show the Princeton store owes $22,000 in rent and money to more than 100 creditors. The list of creditors includes many natural and organic food supplies, such as Tom’s of Maine and Enzymatic Therapy along with local businesses like Farmland Dairies and Terhune Orchards.
But perhaps what is most unusual, is that the Princeton Olive May owes money to the East Orange Olive May! Arain bought the East Orange store in the late 1980s, and created the second store as a separate company. So while both stores may have shared brands and styles, they were clearly two different companies on the financial books.