Frist convenience store shelves left empty after supplier goes bankrupt

These past few weeks, many have entered the Frist Campus Center convenience store in search of items such as cereal, jelly or a bottle of shampoo, only to find empty shelves.

Though all frustrations can now be put aside — the shelves are in the process of being restocked — students have wondered why the convenience store no longer seemed to carry some of the goods it used to.

Before the start of the academic year, the convenience store's principal supplier, Miller-Hartman, went out of business without notifying Frist, according to David Goetz, director of Dining Services at Frist Campus Center.

"We checked with them the Monday after Labor Day and it turned out that they went out of business," Goetz said.

"It really caught us by surprise. Everyone was in disbelief that they would go out of business without letting anybody know," he added.

Miller-Hartman, a supplier for small stores, had supplied most of the convenience store's goods, including all of its health and beauty products and items such as peanut butter and jelly that come in smaller containers.

The Frist dining facilities, which require larger quantities and different packaged products, receive food products from a different supplier and were not affected by this problem.

After discovering that Miller-Hartman had gone out of business, Frist found a new supplier, Associated Wholesalers Incor-porated, Goetz said.

Wawa stores faced a similar problem, according to Goetz. The chain of stores had been using Miller-Hartman for some of its products and also turned to AWI several weeks ago.

"The wholesaler we both turned to was more anxious to get the chain of the 'Wa up and running," Goetz said.

"They told us up front that it would be more than four weeks before setting up an account with us," he said.

Since then, the Frist convenience store has had to get by selling much less than usual.

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The store has continued to sell drinks and some candy since it has not had a problem with its beverage supplier, and it has been able to get some of its candy from local companies.

The store's empty shelves have been an inconvenience to students these past few weeks.

"I needed some double-A batteries and they didn't have them, so I had to go all the way to CVS," Heather Morr '03 said.

"But as long as the candy bins are still stocked, I'm OK," she added.

Megan Aghazadin '03 expressed similar sentiments. "It's frustrating when you're working at Frist late at night and you come down to get a snack and the shelves are entirely empty," she said.

Ron Wright, who runs the convenience store, said he was aware of these complaints.

"Everyday someone comes in and asks when we're going to get more nutrition bars and we've been getting a lot of requests for medicine this time of year," Wright said.

The convenience store's stock got so low, Wright said, that he began looking for some creative solutions to the problem.

"I started spreading things out to make it look like we had more. I started putting soda on the shelves," he said, smiling.

The convenience store received its first order of the year yesterday, bringing in 900 different packages of goods, according to Wright. Candy, nutrition bars, cereal and health and beauty products now fill the shelves, though the store is still waiting for more shipments.