The Bethel IGA closed on June 4 by the building owner because the operator was behind on lease payments.

The Bethel IGA closed on June 4 by the building owner because the operator was behind on lease payments.
By Wayne Gates
Editor

The IGA stores in Ripley and Bethel closed suddenly on June 4 when the doors were locked by the building owners over missed lease payments.

Charles Collins, the operator of the stores, said the action surprised him.

“My landlords made the decision to lock me out of the property on Thursday of last week, prohibiting me from doing business in those two stores. It was a complete shock and I was caught flat-footed,” Collins said.

Chris Munafo, owner of the buildings, said the action was unfortunate but necessary.

“I really can’t tell you too much now because there are some legal issues, it does have a lot to do with the leases. It’s been an ongoing problem, and that’s all I’m going to say.”

Munafo said that the plan was to reopen the Bethel and Ripley stores under new management.

“These locations are available if there are any operators out there. We’ve contacted a few suppliers and we’re trying to get them reopened with new management and new people,” Munafo said.

He added that he got a surprise of his own when he found out that Collins was liquidating assets at the Bethel store with the intent of closing it down.

“I did find out he was liquidating until about a week and a half ago. There was no precommunication of what his intent was. We were blindsided so we had no choice but to protect our interest and close them down.”

Collins said that one of the hardest parts of the process was telling his employees what was going on.

“I made sure they got paid for the time they worked and I told them that it was uncertain what was going to happen and that they probably needed to find other employment,” Collins said.

He added that the Bethel store had approximately thirty employees and the Ripley store had about fifteen.

Collins said he is moving forward with his remaining business.

“I have another store in Maysville and I’m continuing to run that, but it’s a difficult process,” he said.

“I feel for the community. I did my very best to service them and give them the best store I can run. I’m sorry that this happened and I hope it’s not too much of a hardship on people.”