Davisville

The Covid-19 pandemic has closed or curtailed most stores, with the Davis Food Co-op and other grocers among the few exceptions. So what has it been like to work in the Co-op during the pandemic? Has the experience changed as shoppers adjusted to new conditions, are there insights here as other Davis stores prepare to re-open, and why are flour and toilet paper rarely on the shelves?

My guests today are two employees of the Co-op: Madison Suoja, the co-op’s education and outreach specialist, and Laura Sanchez, the store’s operations manager. A few items from the interview: Sales for the second quarter are up almost 11 percent from a year ago, shoppers are buying significantly more items per trip (and lately, making fewer trips), and the Co-op just started offering online shopping, with curbside pickup.

We’ve entered a recession, and don't know yet how bad it will be. To get some perspective, I talk today with Bob Leland, an expert on municipal finance with the Management Partners consulting firm who began his career in the 1970s. He compares the current downturn to the Great Recession 12 years ago, lists some possible responses, and estimates the size of the revenue loss facing Davis – “it’ll probably be about a 6 to 8 percent loss for the year that will be ending June 30,” with the financial damage concentrated in the last few months.

Read that carefully—the plunge since March has been steep enough to take the results for the entire fiscal year down by 6 percent or more. 

This is a repeat broadcast of one of the most popular shows in Davisville's 12 years. I interviewed Robert Luke, who died in 2017, in early 2012.

Erin and Brett Arnold bought the Avid Reader and Avid Reader Active this winter from longtime owner Alzada Knickerbocker. Buying the town’s last full bookstore, and their plans to keep it as a bookstore, is significant news if you’re interested in Davis, books, and/or downtown. The Arnolds visit Davisville today to talk about the store, bookselling, co-existing with Amazon, why the store has persisted, and why they see a good future for it. Some statistics support their optimism: Although sales of printed books in the United States fell about 1.2 percent in 2019 from the year before, they’re still up 16 percent from 2012.