Standard Clover Farm re-opens under new management

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Standard Clover Farm is under new management, and following a period of closure, now continues to operate within the community. 

“The Standard Co-Op was formed in 1974, and it went through a time of bad management and was no longer viable, and so it dissolved in 2017,” said Shelly Rasmussen, secretary and treasurer to the Broadway Group, which now collectively owns the building. “The building is right on Main Street, so people were very concerned that the building would be sold and end up being a storage unit or something like that because it is a fairly large building.”

Rasmussen explained the Broadway Group got together, which consists of just under 30 shareholders, to assemble the money necessary to buy the building. The next step was to find someone to run the store. 

For the last five years, a local family has run the Standard Clover Farm, though has since retired as of August 2024.

The Standard Clover Farm was closed from Sept. 1, 2024 until Jan. 10, having reopened under the proprietorship of Won Lee. 

“Our family is running another store in Bassano, so it would be a really good opportunity for me to run a business by myself … It has been really good; people are so nice,” said Lee. “There is a guy named Ross (Collins); he is one of the members of the group in Standard (who owns the building), and he just came by in Bassano when I was working there and he said they were closing the store in a few months so maybe I should check it out.”

Lee explained he is effectively restarting the store from scratch, as the store was completely empty when he stepped in to take over operations. 

Thus far, he added, though January has been slow business-wise, the process to re-establish the store has largely been smooth sailing. 

“We did not have to go very long without a store. People really noticed it that we did not have a store. It is very hard. But now, the store that Won has, there is meat, produce, we have liquor and lottery, and of course, dry goods, frozen goods, a bakery, the full contingent of anything anybody could want,” said Rasmussen. “(Not having a grocery store) was very hard on the community because there was nothing … it was very quiet on main street with no store… and you would have to go drive for half an hour just to get a jug of milk.”

Lee explained the store is not yet experiencing enough traffic to hire more staff, though it is something he will be looking towards later.