The Garnet Mercantile

PHOTO GALLERY from the Reno Gazette Journal
An earlier RG story

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In November, 2004, citizens of Ely, Nevada, on U.S. 50 more than 225 miles from both Salt Lake City and Las Vegas banded together and put up the money to start their own "junior department store," after the local J.C. Penney left town. Modeled after a similar community-owned startup in Powell, Wyoming, the operation has more than 300 shareholders -- who chipped in an initial half-million dollars to get started.

"We''re coming up on our third anniversary and are doing quite well," Bartlett said Sept. 23, 2007. The store shares a buyer with nine other similar stores.

OTHER LINKS:
An excerpt from "Planning" magazine Garnet Mercantile''s full-year financials (XLS download)
A November, 2004 AP story about the store startup

Could this be a model for community ownership of newspapers?