I first wrote about Lettuce Carry shortly after they started delivering groceries to people throughout the region from their Pineville warehouse. The premise was simple: For a minimum order of $25, you could buy your groceries online and have them dropped off at your front door the next day, for no extra charge.
"With a very heavy heart, Lettuce Carry is saddened to announce that we will be closing our doors," Lettuce Carry wrote on its Facebook page. "We can not express how appreciative and thankful we are for every single delivery we've made in the last two and half years, the customers we have met and the loyalty we have received. We truly thank each and every one of you for supporting us in our dream - The Lettuce Carry Team."
The company has sold off its remaining inventory. Lettuce Carry could not be reached by phone Tuesday.
As soon as Ely wrote about them here, I started using the service. Since neither my wife nor I can drive due to our disabilities, this service was a godsend. Over recent months, we had noticed some changes, and not for the better. They stopped delivering with the re-usable bags and switched to the same plastic bags all the other stores use. The number of products they offered stopped growing and started shrinking. We went probably at least a year with no errors in our order, but in the last few months had an error about every other week. Then the number of available products dropped dramatically this spring. They told us they were getting a new distributor and had to get rid of the inventory from the old distributor first. Then we went out of town the last week of July, and when we got back I went to place an order, and all the website said was, "we are no longer accepting delivery orders." I had to search to find their Facebook page where the message Ely quoted was posted.
ReplyDeleteSo it appears that things went well for almost 2 years, then this spring something bad happened, and they couldn't recover from it, and had to shut down. Sure wish I knew what it was.
So the wife & I had to start going to the grocery store again. Good thing we are only a 5-minute walk from the Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market on Independence.
Did they research Webvan, and Publix Delivery Service? Both with large amounts of capital, the first went out of business (after spending $1 Billion in capital) and Publix tested in Florida for about 2 years and then shut it down. The model doesnt work!
ReplyDeleteDynaSteve, the model works, just not in the Charlotte market because so may people have and rely on vehicles. In the Washington, DC metro region many people rely on the bus, train or cab. Peapod by Giant has been a huge success for over 5 years.
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