Mariam Nuñez hopes community support can help replace broken refrigeration, attract customers and cover rent as some misfortunes have hit her Luna’s Groceries on Park Street in the heart of Madison’s South Side.
Nuñez is giving herself 30 days to raise the money needed to keep Luna’s Groceries open in South Madison.
The store owner has launched a $60,000 GoFundMe campaign to help address mounting financial pressures, including failing refrigeration equipment, high electricity bills and a lack of customers.
“The two freezers that went down were really devastating and expensive,” Nuñez tells Madison365. “And the lack of customers we have coming in right now is not helping our mission.”
With her original Luna’s Groceries in the Allied-Dunn’s Marsh neighborhood and the new Luna’s on Park Street, Nuñez’s mission is to make culturally familiar groceries accessible to neighborhood residents and create a place where people can connect.
Although about 300 people showed up for the grand opening of the new store, located in the former Yue-Wah Oriental Foods space, earlier this year, the day-to-day traffic has tapered off since. Nuñez says her daily sales are only about $150/day.
“This is a last shot that I’m doing just to make sure that I did everything that I could to save the store,” she says.
The fundraiser is intended to help Nuñez replace refrigeration equipment, market the store to potential customers and cover three months of rent while she works to bring in distributors and vendors.
Nuñez says she has spent nearly $50,000 on refrigeration problems. After one repair cost $8,000, the equipment broke down again just three days later.
Technicians attributed the repeated problems to the age of the equipment, she says.
With refrigeration repairs continuing to drain the business’s finances, Nuñez decided to turn off the units that had broken rather than continue paying for repairs.
The store’s electricity bill had reached an exorbitant amount, she says, adding to the financial strain as customer traffic remained low.
Now, Nuñez hopes the fundraiser can give the business another chance.
Part of the money raised would go toward replacing the refrigeration equipment, either by purchasing new units or leasing them. Another portion would support marketing efforts to increase awareness of the store, while the remainder would help cover three months of rent.
“That way, I can focus on bringing distributors in and vendors in, and not have to worry about the rent that I have to pay,” Nuñez said.
(Photo by A. David Dahmer)
A call for community support
Nuñez said she opened the store on South Park Street with hopes of serving a community where she has longstanding personal and professional connections.
Her background includes studying English and history and volunteering for four years with Centro Guadalupe, located for many years inside the Catholic Multicultural Center on Madison’s South Side. Those experiences helped shape her connection to the Latino community and her belief that a neighborhood grocery store could find a place in South Madison.
But attracting customers has been more difficult than she anticipated.
“I thought that because of the presence of Latinos and Black people, and the emphasis on those communities, it would be a business that people promised to support,” Nuñez says. “And that’s the part that has been like, okay, where is the support? Like, where are the people?”
Nuñez also pointed to changes in the parking situation around the store as another challenge. She said the available parking is more limited than it was under the previous business, making it harder for customers to access the store.
Despite the challenges, she hopes raising awareness about Luna’s Groceries and its circumstances will bring more people through the door.
The fundraiser is also an opportunity to introduce the store to people who may not know where it is or what it offers.
More than financial donations
Nuñez said she is open to help beyond monetary donations. Marketing professionals, photographers and others who can offer advice on improving the store’s visibility could also make a difference.
“The help doesn’t have to be money,” Nuñez says. “If you know somebody who does marketing and wants to help, or somebody who can help me improve the store’s photos and visibility and offer some insights, I would really appreciate it.”
She says she hopes the fundraiser will help more people discover Luna’s Market, learn its story and find reasons to shop there.
“I could really use help getting people to know Luna’s Market, where it’s located, and encouraging them to come in and learn my story,” Nuñez says. “I’m trying to create something that will bring the business back.”
Nuñez adds that she plans to work hard over this next month to raise the money needed to continue operating. If the campaign does not bring in enough support, she says she may have to let the business go and use the money raised to cover outstanding obligations, including attorney fees and utility bills.
For now, she is hoping the community will respond before time runs out.
