Thrifty update: Good news for Canton, bad news for Adams

I posted the other day about purveyors of used goods in Canton and Adams, and some of the troubles they’re facing, and I’m just checking back in with a quick update on both of those situations.

Flea Market Zone (who knew there was such a publication?) is reporting that in Canton, the group of vendors who’d been facing eviction from their space in the University Plaza there after the person who rents that space from the plaza’s owner stopped payment on his July rent check (more details in the blog post — it’s complicated and I’m not going to get back into it here) has found someone to represent its interests.

One of the vendors, Dennis Kelly, has said he’ll lead the vendors and deal directly with plaza owner David Muraco. Muraco says he’ll offer the vendors a reduced rent for less space in the plaza until at least Jan. 1, 2014. So that looks good for the moment; we’ll see. Muraco seems to have a lot of plans for the plaza.

On the other hand, things didn’t go so well for the Hearthstone Ministries Thrift Shop in the Jefferson County town of Adams. The Watertown Daily Times reports a court ruled against Hearthstone in its efforts to hold onto its space. The building’s owner, Peggy Brouty, says (through an attorney) that she gave the required 30 days notice on the space to the Rev. Susan Sampson and her husband William Sampson; the Sampsons say the situation was more complicated:

The Sampsons argued it took them a month to verify the eviction notice. They claimed that in the past, they had been given assurances by an agent for Ms. Brouty based on thousands of dollars in repairs they made to the building. Mr. Sampson said the church was attempting to raise money to buy the building based on an offer of $105,000 from last year, which drew a head shake from Ms. Brouty.

The Sampsons have been trying, without a lot of success, to raise money to buy the building (the current price is $180,000, Brouty’s attorney says). Unless the situation changes they’ll now have to clear out by Aug. 31.

Tags: adams, business, canton, economy, flea market, Jefferson county, st lawrence county