Farewell to an Era

I see people. People relaxing, reading, studying. People visiting with a friend or a group of friends or colleagues. They are comfortable. They feel safe. There is laughter.  And smiles all around. It’s people that I see when I recall the days of The Hard Bean Café of Grandview, Missouri

The ‘Bean was a rare pearl in the center of a town struggling to re-identify. It was that third place, not home or work or school. It was that place where everyone knew your name and, best, cared about you.

My heart is now broken to see how one person was able to destroy in six weeks what took six years to build. When it was literally handed to him he was thankful to inherit a stable business that had weathered well many local and global economic storms, downtown construction, icy winters and sweltering summers. It didn’t make a lot of money but it was debt free, revenues were stable, and there was room to make it highly profitable. Best of all, it had an enormous loyal customer base. He said he planned to build on that, not scratch it all and start over. And that is why we, the owners of that great third place, did not even send out an email to our loyal customers and friends. The transition would be slow and all change would be for the greater good.

Yet when armed with authority, he decided nothing we, the proprietors and employees and customers, built was worth keeping and set out to change every aspect immediately. Worse than that, if it can be imagined, his business dealings were completely unethical and even illegal. Not only customers have been hurt but vendors and employees as well. Now he claims bankruptcy.

It took a long time to build trust and loyalty; loyalty that flowed equally between customer and proprietor and fantastic employees. That relationship ran deep. It was based on respect and, most of all, love for all. I pray that each person who was ever a part will remember fondly the love and respect, not the ruination. Let nothing taint the joy as we recall our Hard Bean community.

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