Help the DeBlieck Family Get their Life Back

I met Stephanie a few years ago through mutual friends. We had an instant connection and now our daughters play soccer together. Stephanie and her husband Aaron have just gone through the most difficult year of their adult lives. I remember Stephanie telling me at the end of last soccer season how excited she and Aaron were to take over the local market in their own neighborhood last year. Unfortunately, over the course of just a few months, the market was source of stress, anguish, exhaustion, illness, and eventually dread.

"A Dream Come True..." A few years back, Steph and Aaron had gotten to know the owners of the market at the end of their street. During that time, Stephanie realized that they shared a strong commitment to their Greek heritage and even connected over their families being from the same region of Greece. Stephanie and Aaron mentioned to the owners that they would be very interested if/when they would be ready to “pass the torch” on to another family. Between the two of them, they have over 50 years of restaurant and retail experience so it seemed like a perfect next step. When the owners reached out in February of 2023, it was a dream come true! Aaron had been looking to switch gears in his career for a while, eliminating those late night shifts and having more time at home with his 2 daughters while also having the satisfaction of feeding his own neighborhood community! Stephanie would manage the store portion (while keeping her full time job in Fairport School District) and Aaron would run the kitchen at the market. The plan was to eventually expand the menu and bring catering to their neighborhood as well. The owners of the market only wanted to sell the business, not the property itself. At the time, that seemed completely reasonable. Steph and Aaron agreed to what seemed like a reasonable asking price for what the owner’s disclosed about the business's history and had to borrow every penny to make it happen. They signed the ownership papers and lease on September 7, 2023.

Spoiler Alert....

One month in, during a “store reset/cleaning party” with their family and friends, they discovered the unimaginable; thousands of dollars worth of outdated and expired products they had purchased during the deal (5 full shopping carts worth!) When they brought this to the previous owner’s attention, their true colors started to show. The owners blamed Steph and Aaron for taking too long to sign the deal, however the expiration dates were as far back as 2018, 5 years before they were even offered to buy the business.

By January 2024, these two hard working people were pouring everything they had into their new market, but they realized something was not adding up. Throughout the rushed business negotiations, the previous owners continually reassured Stephanie and Aaron that they would have no trouble paying any of the business expenses as it was a “turnkey” business. The DeBlieck's lawyer didn’t question any of the numbers and they trusted his expertise.

Not Adding Up...

The owners provided profit/loss summaries during the purchase but now the DeBlieck’s realized those numbers showed only partial payroll costs, no sales tax payments, and were NOT representative of the true costs of running the business. For a business that hadn’t even hit $550K per year in sales, the rent expenses alone were adding up to approximately $8,000/month (double the retail industry standard percentage). That, coupled with the $4,000 monthly payment to the bank for the purchase price, and regular costs of doing business didn’t allow the couple to ever get their heads above water. The people they had trusted were trying to turn them into their cash cow.

Running on Empty....

These numbers along with the loans they had to take to purchase the business left them consistently in the red. They tried to renegotiate with the previous owners (now landlord) for 6 months with absolutely no cooperation. This was Aaron’s full time job and there was no paycheck for him as long as they were paying the rent and absolutely no time for him to find another job while trying to keep the market afloat. For 10 months, Stephanie would leave her full time job daily at 2:30pm to drive around and try and find the best deals on products to cut costs, figure out who she could ask to take her daughters where they needed to be, and then drive to the store to drop off goods, relieve staff or close up shop every day for almost a year. Grandparents and Extended family of both Stephanie and Aaron helped at the store so that Stephanie could take the kids to doctors appointments or try to make it to their older daughter’s theater performances and younger daughter’s soccer practices/games, however they missed more than they made.

Shattered Dreams...

The DeBliecks were beyond exhausted and they were not only losing money, but their entire lives. Their kids were home alone, depressed and anxiety ridden. Steph and Aaron were working like dogs, and cutting any extra activities for the girls to save money. Steph even had to ask her daughter's soccer coach to give her multiple extensions to pay the dues, while holding her place on the team. They had no choice but to let the business go.

Defeated but Determined to Rebuild Their Lives...

Aaron and Stephanie are beyond devastated that the menu they’d created and the relationships they had built with their community was taken out from under them. They had never owed anything to anyone. They are sick about incurring a huge debt, losing the money that their family and friends loaned them out of the kindness of their hearts.

Aaron is determined to follow his dream of feeding people his fabulous comfort food while working a full-time job to make ends meet. Once they can pay back their debt and are on their feet again, the DeBliecks hope to start over on a smaller scale by establishing a mobile food truck or catering that will be a hub for comfort food for the community. If you are able to help at all-Stephanie, Aaron and their girls would be overwhelmed by your support during this time. They are left carrying a debt of $346,000 without a business to pay it down.

In one year, the landlord has profited $440K - made up of an SBA Loan, Stephanie’s father’s personal loan, Aaron’s friend’s personal loan, and Stephanie’s loan from her own 403b. So many others had faith in Stephanie and Aaron’s work ethic and huge hearts, but now they are left with nothing because they trusted the wrong people.

Message posted on website for the neighborhood

Letter to their community

Newspaper article about closing

https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/money/2024/08/21/highland-market-to-close-in-rochester-ny/74888303007/

Channel 10 story

https://www.whec.com/top-news/highland-market-closure-leaves-south-avenue-residents-without-grocery-spot/