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Grow-In Grocer bankruptcy

by Joseph Roberts

Deb Reynolds got lots of people to trust her. She opened a little shop at 196 West 18th called The Home Grow-In Grocer. Neighbours were so taken by her that they wanted to lend her money. And they did.

 

There were large lenders, and hundreds of local folks who paid Deb up front for her Grow-In Grocer box programs.

It went like this. Deb told people they needed to pay up front for what would later come to them as boxes of local and/or organic food. Deb said she needed the pre-payments for the local farmers so they could plan ahead. It didn’t quite happen that way. Shortly after the deadline to prepay for the next instalment of food boxes Deb declared bankruptcy.

One neighbourhood couple with a baby on the way put $500 down thinking they would have food security if not a job. Like many others, they will not see their boxes of food, nor likely get their money back.

Some gave $250, $500, $900 or more for produce, meat, fish or other food boxes. Some bought a $10,000 share in the second outlet Deb started at 3010 Cambie Street, and some loaned hundreds of thousand of dollars for Deb’s other projects. One such project called Butterfly Kisses allegedly ran a farm where abused women could learn employment skills. Does it exist? We don’t know.

Thinking he was working on Deb’s behalf, one gentleman gathered a large number of Christmas toys for children living at the farm for battered women. The toys showed up months later, auctioned off after the bankruptcy. There are too many other personal stories to repeat here.

After February 28th, Deb contacted Deliotte & Touche (D&T) on Dunsmuir Street where “The Home Grow-In Grocer Ltd made an assignment on the 10th day of March 2011…the sole director and owner of Grocer was Ms. Deborah Ann Reynolds.”

At the March 24th creditors meeting, Deb was absent, and many question went unanswered. D&T stated that they had “received fee guarantee in the form of a third party retainer (deposit) with respect to our (their) fees. $12,500 has been guaranteed by Ann Hyldtoft, of which $7,500 has been receive.” It turns out Ann Hyldtoft is Deb’s mother.

D&T’s preliminary report on the bankruptcy of The Home Grow-In Grocer Ltd. wrote, “ Based on the preliminary review, the books and records do not appear complete and have been poorly maintained.” As well “The Trustee (D&T) concludes that collections will likely be significantly less than that indicated in the statement of affairs”.

Deb’s bio was emailed to Common Ground on February 18, 2011 just weeks before she declared bankruptcy. Here are a few quotes:

“Deb Reynolds is spearheading her own niche in the local food market and, at the same time, helping local farmers make a living. It all springs out of her belief in community connectedness and her loyalty to BC-grown food.”

“My philosophy of life now is that people need to step out of their comfort zone and help their neighbour.”

It’s a philosophy that drives her and her business, a business that’s grown out of personal adversity. When asked where she sees herself in five years, Deb responds, “I see myself at the grocer doing ice cream cones and being part of my community. The grocery is where I want to be.”

There were glowing articles such as The Little Local Food Connector That Could, How Home Grow-In plays a key role by helping nearby farmers find Vancouver customers in the Tyee. Social media wrote about how wonderful Home Grow-In Grocer supported local farmers and organic food.

Deb was quite convincing. So much so that Meeru Dhalwala and Vikram Vij’s popular Vij’s at Home cook book contains this passage under the headingHome Grow-In Old-fashioned Indian Carrot Halwa: “In March 2010 Deborah received the Order of Canada for facilitating the transfer of 160,000 pounds of organic products – that would otherwise have rotted or been composted – from local farms to local food banks.” But a search of the Order of Canada website found no mention of Deb Reynolds.

Continuing in Vij’s at Home, “When Meeru asked, “You don’t take credit cards?” Deborah whipped back, “No, but I’ll take trust.”

Well, Deb did take trust and she did take money. The many creditors are left with the million-dollar question. Where did all the money and trust go?

If you have pertinent information, please contact the Vancouver Police Department re: Deb Reynolds, incident # 11-36878. You are welcome to send Common Ground comments to editor@commonground.ca. Let’s see how this story unfolds.

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