Help Save the French Grocer
Donation protected
Friends, Family, Fellow Texans,
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Our 5-year lease at the current location ends this November, and after years of agonizing deliberation and our best efforts…. it is clear that staying in our current location is no longer a workable option. This has put us in a serious bind- an existential one.
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This has dealt us an urgent predicament, and with it a financial burden that we cannot overcome without help. Asking for help is humbling, and difficult, but without the aid of our broader community, we will not be able to continue operating and the french grocer would close permanently in November 2024.
We do not want to close.
Relocating a grocery store is tricky business, and will come with many challenges- some predictable, some not so predictable. Relocation also comes at a substantial cost and is by far the most expensive and challenging effort this store will ever face. Pandemic included.
Funding is needed to outfit a location with the necessary infrastructure for our grocery store, electrical, plumbing, built-in refrigeration, renovations, and to help with down-payment for purchase of the store property. We cannot allow a relocation to be a regression in our ability to deliver on the outcomes you expect from us. We are the only location in a 30 mile radius that accepts food stamps- maintaining our status as an EBT (food stamps) store is also critical to delivering on our promises.
We are humbly asking for your help in order to preserve and liberate Marathon's grocery store and community centerpiece, allowing us to move to a new location in order to survive. With a little time, expect us to thrive there, too. It is not the first time we have reinvented ourselves.
We are not able to disclose details about the new location just yet, but backers of this campaign will be the first to see the details of our plan. What we can say is: our new location will be perfect, and just as (if not more) convenient as our current location. It will allow us to deliver everything you have come to expect from The French and more, right where you need it. Our plan for the next chapter of the french co will excite you and will allow us to continue to deliver on our promises.
It will be nothing short of heart-wrenching for us to say goodbye to 206 Ave D- the place where we have devoted endless energy, immeasurable time and financial resources. The truth is, we never wanted to relocate, and we held out hope that our dilemma would see a reasonable compromise allowing us to stay. For the last 5 years, we have painstakingly refitted and adapted our current location through countless improvements that were 100% self-funded, based on thousands and thousands of small decisions and interactions with you. All of this was necessary: we are a grocery store, a produce provider, a catering kitchen, a prepared foods outlet, a private event space, a food service operation, a music venue, a full coffee & espresso bar, a camping gear store, general store, and more. We take all of this galvanized experience with us, and with a successful campaign this will prove to be a masterclass in manifestation and a showcase of our know-how, grit, and community support.
With your help we can continue this legacy of independent, old-school industry right here in Marathon. With your help we will remain where we know even more than your name. We will continue our highly active support in our community, With your help this 100+ year story has only just begun. With your help we can continue to create a future together building community.
Failure is not an option. It never has been, not in this chapter, nor during the original French family’s chapters over 100 years ago. Leaving Marathon with a void, a wound, is not an option. We strongly hope for your support, and with it, expect to be successful in our plans for the future.
Long Store Short
For those of you who don’t know me yet, my name is Sam. I moved to Marathon in 2019 to become the sole steward of an establishment that was well over 100 years in the making.
I once listened to two locals at the cash register arguing with each other about who was in less of a hurry after one offered to let the other ahead of them in line. "I ASSURE YOU I AM INDEED IN LESS OF A HURRY THAN YOU, SIR". They were not being ironic nor even sarcastic. This was a jaw-dropping experience for me and the other patrons standing in line. That moment and many others made me acutely aware that Marathon was a unicorn community. I was in the right place. Not because I want to "move slow," but because the point of this project we call "the store" has never been to simply get-in-and-get-out. It is about a commitment to a community to be here, stay here, serve here, grow here, listen and give all that we can… at a cadence that would otherwise feel like a lost art.
I never questioned the claim that Marathon was the gateway to The Big Bend. To me, Marathon is the perfect size town, because you can barely call it that. I, like Guil Jones, prefer "hamlet". I grew up in Andrews, in Texas' Permian Basin, and Big Bend was my first experience in a national park. Lucky. I was barely a teenager when I first canoed through Santa Elena. Now, more than twenty years and a hundred river trips later, I've rooted down in my forever-home for reasons which any resident of the transpecos can attest. I never mind the "west texas tax" (usually comes in the form of "wtf?" or "whenever time" or just "wind").
From the time I could walk, I never passed on an errand to the grocery store. A grocery store is a wonderland. I still never pass a trip to the grocery store, for those same reasons, and a whole lot of new ones.
In 2019, I was, and "the french" was, ready for a new chapter, and Marathon's store has almost as many chapters as Lonesome Dove. So much has changed in the last 5 years, and the store's continuity in Marathon is a story that is beyond rare. That story is impossible to capture in this context but useful and important for us just to imagine. Our small-but-mighty store continues to evolve every single day that we are open (and even when we aren't)- and we are in fact open 365 days a year. (With your help, 366 days in 2024). The evolution of Marathon's grocery store, which is located in a USDA-designated Food Desert (not dessert), includes its transformation into the community centerpiece. (Some say it is "the dairy queen", which is a useful metaphor, but our burgers are not in the same league.) If you are reading this, you are the purpose of this evolution. This era of the french co's 100+ year history is strongly defined by the people it reaches. From a recent Texas Highway's article, I said:
“If you are really honest [...] you realize that community is the whole reason to do this. If not, it would be like a zombie—it might have arms and legs, but it wouldn’t have a soul.”
Say no to zombies. In this new era, I wanted for this establishment to mirror its real people. This is not a visionary's quest based on a design. It is a malleable culture. It has evolved a magic that is based in its intention to be dynamic and vibrant just like the people who work there, the people who frequent us, the people who encourage us from afar, the people who stop in once a year, the people who tell us stories, the people who ask for help, the people who rendezvous in our backyard-- all of them, people who value and cherish our place, our space, and our efforts.
A successful fundraising campaign will lead to the preservation and liberation of Marathon's grocery. You already know that it's more than a grocery store. If you don't (yet), we look forward to spending time with you in "the french co universe".
For a crew that doesn't make promises, let this campaign be our exception: For supporting this campaign, we promise you that we will pass it on, we will be generous, we will keep the dream alive, we will deliver, and we will delight you and everyone who comes into our universe every time for many many more years to come. For the rest of my life, if I can help it. I never pass up on an errand to the grocery store.
Testimonials
"Let me share a tale about a quaint grocery store nestled off the beaten path in the one-horse town of Marathon, Texas. In this peculiar spot, the quirky charm mingles with a diverse stream of travelers en route to Big Bend beneath the vast desert sky.
Regardless of the reason for your visit to The French Co Grocer, one thing is certain: you're in for a delightful surprise. The shelves are stocked with a variety of delicious and diverse comestibles crafted with love and quality ingredients, making even the most ordinary gas station fare question its existence.
Bearing the well-worn marks of countless passersby, the patina of The French Co resembles your grandma's kitchen – a place where everyone feels welcome and accepted, whether it's their first visit or their last. It's a place that has transcended the typical small-town grocery store, taking on an almost magical quality. From burger nights to John Prine Tributes, Gospel Brunches, and every pop-up event in between, The French Co goes beyond being just a grocery store. It's a hub for community, where connections and experiences are forged.
Locals, tourists, and employees alike come together to share libations, laughter, and culinary delights accompanied by live music spanning genres from Folk and Country to Punk and Tejano. The atmosphere is as eclectic and wild as the products on the shelves – a harmonious blend of genius and daring. Such a place can only exist under the guidance of a passionate individual crazy enough to will it into existence.
Is it a symbiotic social experiment, where the business grows to become the sum of its people, customers, and employees alike? At The French Co, you can enjoy coffee prepared just the way you like it, and perhaps even better than anywhere else. It serves as a window into humanity, offering a glimpse of what our society could be if we embraced and celebrated our differences, and worked together to make the world a better place.
For those who only notice the price, they may have yet to fully appreciate the journey. The solitude of the desert is an integral part of its beauty. The French Co welcomes those who come to understand that obtaining good food and drink here is a testament to the effort it takes to bring such quality to this remote location.
The French Co represents the closest connection my generation has to the peace and love movement of our parents. If this unique haven were to cease to exist, the expansive desert night skies would undoubtedly lose a bit of their luminosity."
- Judd Tochterman
Press
Texas Highways
Food and Wine
Texas Monthly
Big Bend Times
Organizer
Samuel Stavinoha
Organizer
Marathon, TX