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Shuttered South End market to customers: It's all your fault

By adamg on Fri, 11/12/2010 - 7:21am

Somehow, I just can't imagine this happening in Hyde Park or Dorchester: A precious little South End market went out of business recently and, according to the Herald, blames its customers for being too cheap.

The Herald references an angry note on the shoppe's Web site, but looks like they've taken down the rant. UPDATE: Google Cache to the rescue: See the comments for a copy of the screed.

Neighborhoods: 
South End


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Comments

By Brian Riccio on Fri, 11/12/2010 - 7:28am.

I could go on and on for hours about the South End and it's somewhat "fickle" upscale residents..but this douche bag should realize that you should never bank on the yuppie dollar. One's man's eight dollar box of eggs is not necessarily another man's fifteen dollar hot dog.

I bet even Market Basket could fail there, too cheap, don't you know.

"Sowa" Get it? SOWA!!!

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By MC Slim JB on Fri, 11/12/2010 - 8:28am.

I stopped shopping at Don Otto's when I picked up some lemons in the store and realized that they were completely moldy and rotten, must have been festering there for days: inexcusable in a place that small. But yeah, I guess it's my fault they went out of business.

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By anon on Fri, 11/12/2010 - 9:56am.

Obviously it was your fault, you think they could survive on people buying lemons?! You could have bought some $8 eggs or $28-per-pound steak, you know...

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By ndoyle on Fri, 11/12/2010 - 8:32am.

Don Otto's Market is now closed.

We featured local, high quality foods both raw and prepared. Unfortunately our products were expensive both at our cost and because we had a storefront to maintain at your cost as well. In some parts of the world people are accustomed to spending a higher percentage of their income on food, but in America we suffer from sticker shock because of Wal Mart and other discount vendors.

The reality is we pay for what we eat. Some are informed enough to know what that statement means. For those that don't I am not going to elaborate here there is plenty of information out there if you are looking.

Don Otto's Market wants to say we had few customers that understood customer loyalty and its importance to our business. Thank you for those that came in regularly and bought what we had though it may not have been exactly what they wanted. If you came in only for baguettes, the occasional piece of cheese, the occasional dinner, or something specific you were very disappointed we did not have, you can not tell yourself you were a supporter of our market. We hope that people that say they support small local businesses actually do support small local businesses. You may not always get what you want but you will get what you need.

Thanks to our patrons and we are sorry we couldn't educate more people in the time we needed to for such a business to work.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cac...

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By pierce on Fri, 11/12/2010 - 9:41am.

it couldn't possibly be that there are 30 other places in the same neighborhood doing the same thing but doing it better, could it?

maybe the owner quit to take an internship at Formaggio?

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By Arborway on Fri, 11/12/2010 - 10:07pm.

Thank you for those that came in regularly and bought what we had though it may not have been exactly what they wanted. If you came in only for baguettes, the occasional piece of cheese, the occasional dinner, or something specific you were very disappointed we did not have, you can not tell yourself you were a supporter of our market.

I don't even know what to say...

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By merlinmurph on Fri, 11/12/2010 - 10:43am.

Does anybody else think that eggs at $8/dozen is being just a tad arrogant/greedy/abusive? I checked online and even the super duper mega-organic cage-free free-range eggs where every chicken has a soft pillow and listens to NPR all day cost ~$4/dozen.

You have to wonder if the owner knows anything about elasticity of demand. Maybe if the eggs were $5, he actually would have sold some. There's a point where I refuse to be taken to the cleaners.

Out here in the burbs, we've got a local market that I support as much as possible. I will avoid buying stuff in other markets if I know I can get it at the local store. It might mean another trip, but I want my local store to survive. Funny thing is, their prices are about the same or sometimes even better than most of the big markets.

edit: misspelling

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By anon on Fri, 11/12/2010 - 9:32am.

Their service was terrible. I attempted to shop there, but they (unlike the space's former tenants) refused to carry the meat cuts we typically like, and when we queried them on various items we'd have liked to have seen in the store, their response was essentially "yeah, so what?"

If you don't carry what your neighborhood wants to buy, don't be surprised when people don't shop at your store!

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By anon on Fri, 11/12/2010 - 9:35am.

This is hilarious. I'm sad they're gone or whatever, event though I've never heard of it before, but it's not the CUSTOMERS' fault they weren't loyal enough, it's your job to make sure they are. If you own a store and it failed, you did something wrong. The end.

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By Ron Newman on Fri, 11/12/2010 - 9:40am.

is here: Lionette's Market

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By eiffel designs on Fri, 11/12/2010 - 10:02am.

You beat me to it.

I was worried when Jamey Lionette sold the store. I had loved Lionette's- I knew I would always be getting quality stuff when I went in there. The staff were always helpful and friendly.

Once Don Otto's took over it just wasn't the same- poor stock, they didn't answer the phones, etc...

I had found their angry screed when I logged on to see if they were going to be offering turkeys this year. Disapppointing to say the least. Will be trekking to Formaggio in Cambridge to get my turkey this year.

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By anon on Fri, 11/12/2010 - 1:36pm.

If you don't want to trek all the way to Cambridge, City Feed in JP also takes orders for free-range local turkeys from Misty Knoll Farm, VT or Butterbrook Farm, MA. The Turkeys from Butterbrook farm are organic.

Here is a link to the ordering form that you need to drop off at the store.

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By Laurel Kirtz on Mon, 01/17/2011 - 1:42pm.

Hi,

I'm Laurel, former employee of what was Lionette's. I now work at Sherman Market as the meat buyer and I still work with James. I was looking at this article about Don Otto's closing and all the comments, because I'm going to forward it to a farm in Vermont that just asked me today if Don Otto's was still in business. Sadly, that small farm is still owed $900.
But I'm sending you a note, to tell you that Sherman's exists. This past thanksgiving, I procured 15 heritage breed turkeys from western mass to sell to our customers, and I was happily reported back to the news that they were amazing. It goes without saying that they were raised right. We also sold Misty Knolls turkeys, because the heritage breed ones were very big, and so we had a smaller turkey option for our customers.
Stop by and check us out sometime. We have same ethics as Lionette's, if not a tad more so.
And yeah, it was sad, but unfortunately, James didn't find a buyer of the business that could do as well as he did. James really knew what he was doing. I wish the South End didn't have to suffer so. And yeah, Mike Otto's rant was very reflective of how... um... uh... stupid he was.

here's our blog! it has 2 posts.
http://www.shermanmarket.blogspot.com/

take care,
from Laurel

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By Ron Newman on Fri, 11/12/2010 - 9:58am.

October 28: Don Otto's Natural & Organic Market: One of a Kind

November 8: Don Otto's Market closes

Wonder what's going to happen to all of those Thanksgiving orders?

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By somenerd on Fri, 11/12/2010 - 11:44am.

I had been here before to check it out for a local write-up assignment back when it was Lionette's, and can confirm that even then, the prices were pretty exorbitant.
Unfortunate, but definitely not surprising.
Shame on Don Otto's for posting such a curt and inflammatory note to people who— contrary to THEIR belief— actually DID support their business by buying ANYTHING in their store.

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By anon2 on Fri, 11/12/2010 - 12:01pm.

The owner Mike Otto looks like a piece of work, too:

http://www.yobeat.com/features/urbanghetto.htm

Really, not paying for meals and walking out with store display items.

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By anon on Fri, 11/12/2010 - 6:28pm.

From the manager/diatribe writer's Linkedin profile:

"Adept at outreach and community engagement strategies"

Her rant has indeed engaged the community today, quite a bit of press and discussion on this. That said, failing at business sucks and is embarassing in a very public way. You want to blame the weather, the economy, the customer. But she has a choice - this failure and the lost money and time can either be seen as an intense 1 year MBA, or she can continue her denial, learn nothing, and move on to the next endeavour - with a strong chance of repeat. I wish her luck.

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