Bella’s Markets in four rural Colorado towns changed hands Thursday in a deal that is expected to breathe life back into neglected grocery stores where some shelves sat empty for months.
On Thursday, the Leroy Odell family of Akron — which sold the Bella’s Market stores in Akron, Haxtun, Walden and Wiggins to Sam Mancini — closed a deal to buy them back. The markets are the only supermarkets in each of the towns.
“I think it’s wonderful. The Odells can have food back on those shelves within a day,” said Annette Bowin, Akron town clerk.
Local people are volunteering to restock the shelves once groceries arrive in all of the towns, she said.
Some residents in the towns have been driving up to 120 miles to get groceries.
“The Odells have become involved to support these rural communities through their hardships,” according to a release from John O’Brien, the Odells’ lawyer. It goes on to say that the Odells haven’t assumed any of the Markets’ debts.
Mancini still owns Bella’s Markets in Gypsum and Wellington.
He had earlier sold markets in Limon and Stratton.
He didn’t return a call for comment.
In Wellington, where many shelves were desolate for about one month, Mayor Jack Brinkhoff said the market still lacks some items, but the inventory has improved. “The store isn’t looking too bad, to be honest with you, right now,” he said.
Mancini has told him the store will be completely restocked early next week, Brinkhoff said. “I’m very hopeful. I try to keep giving the guy the benefit of the doubt. I want to believe.”
Other stores in the chain were without many items for months at a time.
Mancini went into the grocery business in Colorado in 2006 when he purchased a string of markets in Akron, Haxtun, Walden and Wiggins, and St. Francis, Kan., from Leroy Odell.
Mancini and his investors went on to cut deals with other grocery companies, buying stores in Wellington, Gypsum, Limon and Stratton.
His deal with Odell called for him to purchase inventory at the stores and lease the buildings.
Mancini didn’t have the money to purchase the business outright. So Odell provided a $2 million loan to finance the deal, according to a document filed in Washington County District Court, during an attempt by Odell to evict Mancini from one of the stores in Akron.
In September 2012, VM Odell’s, a subsidiary of Mancini’s Village Markets Holdings LTD, declared bankruptcy. The parent company, which owns other properties, didn’t file for bankruptcy protection.
VM Odell’s later emerged from bankruptcy with a reorganization plan. As part of the plan, a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge awarded the assets from the St. Francis store to Odell, O’Brien said.
Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671, tmcghee@denverpost.com or twitter.com/dpmcghee
