Grannys Attic considers move into town

Nearly 40 years after Grannys Attic opened at Sunrise Ridge, its members are scheduled to vote next week on moving the non-profit thrift store into town.

Grannys eight-person board is recommending that its members, who volunteer at the store and vote on policy matters, move to relocate the shop to the Vashon Market IGA shopping center. Supporters of the idea say that doing so would provide additional and better space for the cramped store and bring it to a central, more easily accessible location. It would also free members of the nonprofit to focus the stores proceeds on fulfilling health-related grants instead of on maintaining and remodeling the aging Sunrise Ridge facility.

Other Grannys members, however, say that they are being asked to make the decision far too quickly. Some believe Grannys history at Sunrise Ridge is important and that the board has not done its due diligence internally or externally, including communicating with its landlords at Sunrise Ridge, who say the news took them by surprise.

Susan Chun, the president of the Grannys board since January, acknowledged the disagreement and the magnitude of the potential transition.

It was a tough decision all the way around, she said. It has not been easy.

Questions about moving surfaced last year, Chun noted, but the idea was dismissed in part because of the sheer enormity of the task. However, as the cold and rain of winter set in, the concrete buildings with inadequate heat and leaking roofs showed their age, and the idea surfaced again in February, she said. Tim Johnson, the business manager at Grannys, was asked to determine if there were viable options for the store elsewhere on Vashon and to make a recommendation to the board. While he started the process believing Grannys should stay at its longtime home, he said he changed his mind after exploring the possibilities.

Its where the evidence led me, he said.

When it met March 17, the Grannys board considered three options, Chun said: to stay at the site and pay to fix problems at the buildings and in the parking lot, to take over ownership of the site with the Sunrise Ridge board or to relocate.

Because most Grannys board members do not want to continue paying for repairs at the site, she said one option stood out.

The only thing that made sense to the board was to look elsewhere, she said.

Originally posted here:
Grannys Attic considers move into town