Cheese & Wine Traders at 1186 Williston Road in South Burlington closed permanently on March 30 without advance notice to employees or customers.
On its final day of operation, the store offered 15 percent off on all products. Its social media that day hinted at the forthcoming closure, promoting the discount with #LastDaySale. But, according to several sources, employees had no inkling they were about to lose their jobs until a few minutes after the store closed.
The news came in an email, which Seven Days obtained.
“After much reflection and careful consideration, we have made the very difficult decision to close the business permanently,” co-owners Nick Savasta and his husband, John Howard, wrote to the store’s 25 or so employees.
The email went on to remind employees that they were “prohibited from discussing any information about the business, including this email update,” because of a “privacy policy” document they all had signed when hired.
Savasta and Howard did not reply to multiple requests for comment on Monday.
The company employed fewer than 50 employees at one site, meaning it was not required to provide advanced warning of layoffs under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.
The retailer was founded in 1991 by Steve Lidle and Nancy Wright. They built a reputation as a go-to source of deals on overstocks of gourmet and natural food items. The store was known especially for its cheese selection and its “world-famous” annual wine garage sales.
A 2001 New York Times article described Lidle and Wright’s approach of scooping up products with misapplied labels, missing ingredients or expired “best by” dates — though all still perfectly edible. It quoted Lidle as saying, “It feels good to save all that beautiful food.”
Savasta and Howard were the store’s third set of proprietors. After the couple bought the business in 2015, they gradually shifted the product mix to more local and gourmet products and fewer bargains.
On Monday, when Cheese & Wine Traders is normally open, the store was shut tight with small “CLOSED” signs on the front and back doors. Shelves full of products could still be seen through the glass windows and doors.
This article appears in Apr 3-9, 2024.
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