Great Barrington — As if we didn’t have enough change to contend with after Main Street was deforested and the sidewalks torn up, now this: Art Ames, Berkshire Co-Op Market fixture with his big smile and chatty disposition — a self-proclaimed “people person” and prophet for the virtues of the co-op business model — will not renew his contract as General Manager when it expires at the end of May.
In a recent announcement to the Co-Op’s owners and stakeholders, Ames, General Manager since 2002 when the Market was still in its old location on Rossetter Street, said he was by no means leaving the community or his West Stockbridge home. He said he needed a break from his “all-consuming” position, to “simply take some time off,” and pursue his interest in music and music writing. Ames has written for Elmore Magazine and plans to do more.
As he said in his announcement, “if you know me at all, you’ll know I certainly won’t be bored.”
But others might not be so accepting. It was jarring news to those who heard it. And it may be a struggle to imagine the Co-Op without him. Just like Main Street without its Bradford Pears.
“I’ve gotten lots of emails,” Ames said, of all the love poured over him since the announcement. “I’m touched, shocked.”
Others, however, Ames said, may be thinking, “thank God he’s finally leaving.”
“I can’t please everybody,” he added. “But I’m really convinced it’s the right move for the Co-Op.”
Ames said it was time, especially when the Market is on the verge of an expansion down the road at 100 Bridge Street. “We’re both happy,” he said. “I like the Co-Op so much that I want someone who can have 150 percent energy. I’m down to 120 percent.”
After 13 years, he said, it was tiring to be the “fulcrum between the good mission of the [Co-Op] Board and the practicality of running a business.”
“The Co-Op,” he observed, “has a sort-of non-profit mentality. But we have to make money, and to do it, you have to have a thick skin, and I think mine is thinner than it used to be. It’s inhibited me from really feeling like I’m part of the community.”
A general manager, he said, “is doing a good job if he or she pisses everybody off equally.”
He also said he felt some “frustration” — as did “everyone,” over how long it took to ink a contract for the new, expanded Market at 100 Bridge, the Community Development Corporation of Southern Berkshire’s mixed use 8-acre development in which the Co-Op will serve as anchor, and which will break ground late fall of 2016.
The Co-Op, he added, “has been ready for two years,” and “the delay cost resources,” making the expansion more difficult. “My understanding is that the Board remains supportive of the project…but it’s not in my hands anymore.”
He said there is also a tug of war over direction: “Some want [the Co-Op] to stay small; some want it to do more.”
He said a “fresh voice is always helpful,” and that this was one reason for his stepping out.
Co-Op Board President Dan Seitz said that Ames has “laid a very good foundation for the store, and we have an able senior management team.” He added that one of the three would be appointed interim general manager, and that after “we figure out what the strategy will be, we will put a notice out,” for a new GM.
“We appreciate what he’s done,” Seitz said. Seitz wasn’t at all worried about the effect of Ames’ departure on the expansion at 100 Bridge. “We have a strong management structure in place. The intention is to continue forward with the expansion, and we will work with Art to transition.”
In his announcement, Ames praised Co-Op employees as “the most amazing, dedicated, focused, caring group of people that I have ever had the pleasure to work with and work for. They’ve got your backs…” He said the Board of Directors is “caring, dedicated and experienced. They will represent your interests at all times.”
Ames, who grew up in Dorchester, Mass., said this was the “first job I’ve ever held this long.”
He came to the Co-Op from “the conventional grocery world.” He began as a part-time produce clerk for “extra money” at Hannaford Brothers and “loved it.” Living in North Carolina at the time, he was a regional buyer before coming back to New England due to an illness in the family. His first day on the job at the Co-Op, he said, was negotiating the move and expansion from the old location to its present digs.
His contract came up for renewal a few years ago, and he found himself in “a crises of conscience.” He took a four-month sabbatical and headed south in his VW Camper, where he immersed himself in an exploration of southern music and culture. Ames said he “met the most fascinating people on the back roads in Louisiana and Texas who I thought would have nothing in common with a liberal New Englander. But people are people.”
Ames, who says he lacks musical talent but has an “ear,” said “music has always been my balance — I’m high-energy, a workaholic.” He plans to cover the Newport Folk Festival for a national music magazine, and said he is looking forward to writing more and going to music festivals, as well as to simply “wake up and say, oh my God, I don’t have to make a decision.”
He said it was a hard decision to leave the Co-Op without another job lined up. But Ames plans to “market myself and find fun, helpful community-based employment in the Berkshires.”
And unlike Main Street’s trees, Ames said we will still see him out and about, and he will “still be part of the Co-Op.”
“Maybe I’ll even run for the Board. That would really freak them out.”
