Bank helps Assoc. Grocer workers, customers
The Bank of Maine, formerly Savings Bank of Maine, is offering job interviews and loans to the workers and retailers affected by the idling of Associated Grocers of Maine.
Chairman and CEO John Everets told the Kennebec Journal that the bank has interviewed "a few" of the cooperative's 142 employees -- all of whom are slated to lose their jobs at the end of the week -- for positions at the Gardiner-based bank. The bank has also given some of the independent grocery stores serviced by AG of Maine loans to allow them to purchase the coop's warehouse inventory at a 20% discount and keep their shelves stocked. Last month, a judge put AG of Maine in receivership per a request by The Bank of Maine, which is owed $6 million, and asked the receiver to shut it down. Camden National Bank, which holds a $4.8 million mortgage on the company's property, asked the court to stay the receivership, saying the move did not protect its interests. Lawyers for the two banks are now working out a modified receivership that will be presented to the court this week, according to the paper.
Associated Grocers of Maine is a retailers' cooperative owned and managed by a group of store owners that serves 300 independent supermarkets in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts.
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