Several hundred island residents will have to find a new place to pick up their mail after April 29.
The Mail Center's owner, Jason Corley, said he has been unable to negotiate a new lease with the landlord, the Marketplace. He plans to move back to the states.
This means life is about to get very unpleasant for locals and
businesses, never mind villa owners who have used the business at the Marketplace to ship supplies to their homes.
In a letter to customers Tuesday, Corley wrote, "On Saturday, April 29th, the Mail Center will close its doors. We deeply regret any inconvenience this will cause you." He suggested customers make arrangements for a new mailing address by contacting Connections in Cruz Bay, Keep Me Posted in Coral Bay, or the cramped and inadequate Post Office in Cruz Bay.
The Mail Center's closing has been brought to the attention of Donna Christensen, the territory’s Delegate to Congress. Beverly Lockhart sent an e-mail. She said she is one of 417 residents who get their mail through the business. “As you are aware, the current US Postal Office is stretched beyond capacity and can not 'create' 417 new boxes,” Lockhart urged the Delegate to intervene with the Marketplace, “and plead our case for affordable rent for the Mail Center…as a public service.”
(A disclaimer: With friends, I (Frank Barnako) used to be a co-owner of the Mail Center.)
This is horrible news! We vacation on STJ every year and have always counted on the Mail Center! I do hope things change and we don’t lose such an important service!
Ya, LeAnne hope your vaca isn’t ruined??? Anyway, the post office COULD create new boxes. they just have to go to bugedtmailboxes.com and order some!! where to put them U ask?? well, we get our packages out of a trailer, so I don’t think a little island engineering could hurt. By my calculations of square footage at least 1200 new boxes could fit in the wasted space floorplan that is the post office. I have only lived here 11 years but think the USPS could afford some new boxes and some happy pills for the staff too.
this is very sad news indeed. as a business owner on st john we depend on the mail center on a daily basis. the mail center brings us to the marketplace every single day, which in turn brings the entire marketplace more business. the mail center is an anchor, and the entire marketplace will loose out when they close their doors.
while i understand how the marketplace needs to make money to survive as a whole, i also think they should consider how many businesses have closed their doors in the past 6 months or plan on closing in the near future. look at what happened with mongoose junction earlier this year: a reduction in lease rates and a free month. how many business have closed their doors at mongoose this year? none.
the alternative for us and many others now is very difficult: Dealing with the USPS Cruz Bay office for our post office needs could be considered a joke at best. they have so few employees and such long lines, i long ago banned ever standing in line at their office again. not being able to park and do other business needs that the mail center offers is obviously another great setback.
i certainly hope someone soon gives us a huge surprise and decides to keep the mail center open or re-open under another name. obviously this would need to happen very soon, as we’re all now scrambling to get other delivery options. as a business i (and most others) can’t afford the time, expense, or frustration of switching addresses back and forth from mail center to USPS office.
someone please help us!
I can not believe David Mugar, the owner of Marketplace is not willing to negotiate.
Maybe there should be a story about this in the paper
KEEP IT OPEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Empty spaces will hurt the other businesses more- people will be less apt to spend when there are vacant storefronts…….
Please give me the information to email Beverly and anyone else that I need to contact.
thank you.
terry urban
property owner St. John – Bethany
I know of another business at Marketplace that asked them not to increase their rent for this year….they refused. I understand not wanting to lower rent, but not raising the rent for one year is not asking alot.
The Marketplace phone number is 340-776-6455.
David Mugar should be ashamed of himself….high rents are just the beginning…with the restraint of trade bullying, it’s a wonder anyone can survive in the marketplace i.e. you can’t sell this or that because someone else in the Marketplace does! Give me a break!
I called the “Marketplace”- apparently the whole ‘story’ of the Mail Center closing has not been told-“we’ve only heard one side of the story”..at any rate MP management is working with a potential new owner and they realize the importance of keeping the MC open..
Lee
called the “Marketplace”- apparently the whole ‘story’ of the Mail Center closing has not been told-“we’ve only heard one side of the story”..at any rate MP management is working with a potential new owner and they realize the importance of keeping the MC open..
Lee
Lee,
So what is the whole story?
the woman (I did not ask for her name) said- after I asked for the ‘whole’ story- “that she didn’t want to air ‘someones’ dirty laundry’ in public”- I didn’t press her..she also said “that she was sorry that Jason had decided to leave”..also not understandable from Jason’s statement that he was leaving only because he couldn’t negotiate an acceptable lease..
that all I know…