Hear that? That’s the sound of kids’ hearts breaking all over Wilton.
On Tuesday afternoon, Aug. 25, the owner of Wilton’s Peachwave, Greg Young, announced on social media that he would be forced to close the store unless he was able to find someone to buy it from him.
Young owns the area license for franchising the Peachwave brand, which is headquartered in Oklahoma. He owns eight stores in CT and Westchester; in addition to the Wilton location, his portfolio includes New Canaan and Norwalk in CT; and Hartsdale, Mohegan Lake, Mt. Kisco, Armonk and Rye in NY; as well as a mobile Peachwave frozen yogurt truck.
Young, who spoke exclusively to GOOD Morning Wilton, wouldn’t say for sure when the store’s last open day would be if he can’t find someone interested in making a deal with him to buy the Wilton store. However, NewCanaanite.com reported that Wilton’s location will stay open through September, according to Gregg Roberts, the president of Young’s parent company which owns the area’s Peachwave license.
At least Wilton reportedly has that one month, but two other towns aren’t as fortunate: Peachwave’s New Canaan location will close this Saturday, and Mt. Kisco will be shuttered as well.
The other five stores Young owns are not slated for closing, he confirms, at least for now.
“The stores have just become too much work for me, I don’t have the time, it’s taking me away from my family, and I’m actually interested, really, in finding a home for every one of my eight stores and the truck,” he says.
Tuesday’s candid online appeal for someone to talk about taking over the Wilton store inspired definite interest.
“My phone won’t stop ringing and dinging,” Young says. “I have no fewer than two dozen inbox messages from people who are interested in taking over Peachwave.” That was just as of Tuesday afternoon.
Overwhelmed with the response, Young has since retained an accountant to handle any inquiries and discussions with potential buyers.
“I don’t want to put this out to auction. I’m interested in finding a local, community-minded family who’s really interested in taking this on as a project,” Young says, and adds that he wants it to be “a friendly, expedient transfer, because it’s Wilton, and it’s the kids.”
Young says the news of the impending closure got out before he really intended it to. “There was some miscommunication within my own organization as to when we were going to make an announcement. They told the employees at least a week or two earlier than I anticipated doing it.”
That, says Young, pushed him to take the drastic step of announcing so publicly the possibility that the store might close, unless a buyer could be found. “I needed to do something quickly, and Wilton 411 was the easiest way to put public notice that it’s available if someone is interested.”
Hoping Wilton Can Stay Open
“My interest is in trying to keep these stores open,” Young says, adding that he knows how hard the news has hit Wilton residents.
“I am so aware of how community-minded the Peachwave stores are, and it isn’t just in Wilton. It is the hub of social existence for the ages 14-20. It’s a healthy, wholesome atmosphere; it’s a family oriented place; it’s everything I tried to create–the problem is I just don’t have the time,” Young laments.
He understands what it means to Wilton families, and that makes it twice as hard to follow through with his decision.
“It’s very meaningful. I knew that it’s going to make thousands of people unhappy. But I can’t sacrifice my own life, and what I’m going to try to do is really place these in happy homes as best as I can, one by one.”
He’s hoping that the move to find Wilton Peachwave a new family to take it on is really meant to help him pay more attention to his own family.
“I’ve bitten off more than I can chew. I have five kids, an ailing mother, a 50-acre farm in Redding where I grow vegetables for church pantries and the food bank. I am very involved in philanthropy and run a couple foundations focused around education for inner-city kids. Even this was intended to be a bit more of a social-fabric way to reach kids and families and that kind of stuff with foundation social media and raising money–it was all part of the larger angle of support,” Young says.
Business Health
One thing Young underscored is that he’s not shutting the Wilton location for any other reason but his own need to free up his time, and that the store is definitely viable. He said that while at least one other store had issues where it may have been mismanaged, or the community didn’t rally around it, or rents were too high, that was not the case in Wilton.
Wilton, he says, “absolutely” has legs.
“With proper stewardship, under an owner-operated model, it can work.”
He also says that he’s spoken with the building’s landlord, who is being “very supportive.”
“The landlord really wants the organization to stay. He’s being very supportive. We were feeling that we had to be out of there very soon, and he’s giving us more time to work on this to try to find a reasonable transfer.”