Highland Market on South Avenue will close
ROCHESTER, NY — Since 2017, the Highland Market on South Avenue has provided the community with a convenient place to purchase groceries or other essentials. But now that the family-run market in the South Wedge is closing, many in the neighborhood will have no place to eat, gather and shop.
The current owners of Highland Market say they cannot afford to stay open.
“The costs here are too high and the company does not support the lease we signed,” said owner Stephanie DeBlieck.
And so the market’s owners are being evicted. DeBlieck and her husband bought the store last fall. She says that based on conversations with the previous owner, who is their landlord, they thought they would make more profit than they actually did.
“We didn’t know that we would be taking on significant debt to buy the company. … We thought we had already accounted for that, but when we got in here, a lot of other numbers were off,” she said.
DeBlieck says after taxes, they were paying up to $8,500 a month. In March, they stopped paying rent, hoping to get the landlord to renegotiate to $4,000 – which they thought was fair. She says the landlord offered to lower the rent – but it wasn’t low enough, and they decided to close.
“That’s the part that hurts the most: the guilt I feel towards the people who depend on this place every day to get essentials or just to grab something quickly when they need it. And I’m grateful that I can still see my community, but I feel bad about it,” she said.
Darlene Parker is one of the many customers who frequently visit the store.
“This is pretty much one of the only stores in the area that sells everything, so I don’t know. It would be a detour to go to another store. But the people here are really nice, so I’m sorry to see them go,” Parker said.
Parker isn’t the only one who will miss the store. Karrie Laughton, co-chair of the Business Association of the South Wedge Area, is not only a regular at the store but is also an advocate for more businesses in the area.
“I know the owners and they’re very nice. … I just hope that something else goes in there that really represents the neighborhood and that brings something cool that people want. … It’s a shame they couldn’t stay. We’re really, really going to miss them,” Laughton said.
The official last day of the Highland Market is Thursday.
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