The iconic King Ro Market in Round Pond will close its doors for the final time Friday, May 12, after financing for a potential sale fell through. The bustling business has served as a central hub for the Round Pond community for decades. (Maia Zewert photo, LCN file)
Ten months after they thought they had reached terms to sell the iconic King Ro Market, business owners Lori Crook and B.J. Russell nixed the agreement after the potential buyer’s financing fell through last week.
In August 2022, the husband-and-wife team reached an agreement in principle to sell the business to husband and wife Owen and Amity Libby, then of Dixfield. Crook and Russell said complications with financing on the buyers’ end repeatedly delayed a closing date.
Given a final, firm date of June 4, Owen Libby informed Crook and Russell via email last week the Libbys could not complete the transaction. Owen Libby agreed to work at the store for two more weeks at 40 hours per week and said the Libbys will vacate the apartment over the store by June 1.
Contacted by telephone Wednesday, May 3, Owen Libby politely declined comment.
As a result of the canceled sale, King Ro will close permanently at the close of business Friday, May 12. The store has been a fixture and hub for the Round Pond community since B.J. Russell’s parents, Bill and Fran Russell, bought the building in 1970 and opened their doors in 1971.
In a brief interview Tuesday, May 2, Crook and Russell said they recognize the loss to the local community, but they are firmly out of the retail business. Both now in their 60s, Crook and Russell say they are at a time in their lives where they no longer want to put in the regular long hours necessary to make the small business go.
“B.J. and I could keep doing it, but we don’t want to,” Crook said. “It is simply time. B.J. is on to a totally new life. He is coming home so happy at night.”
Crook operates a solo bookkeeping business out of the couple’s home behind the store, at 1414 Route 32 in Round Pond. Russell is currently working as a project manager, overseeing the construction of a house in the village.
Crook and Russell had put the store on the market as a turnkey business in 2019, hoping to find a buyer who shared their vision for the business. Going forward they plan to sell the property outright.
“We are not putting it on the market as a store,” Crook said. “We are putting it on the market as real estate. There is nothing for sale in Round Pond. People could make it into a home … It’s a beautiful 1874 home.”
King Ro Market co-owners Lori Crook and B.J. Russell stand in front of the store with Calhoun the dog and Smokey the cat in 2016. (Maia Zewert photo, LCN file)
Over the course of the last eight months, as Owen Libby has done the majority of the customer service work, Crook and Russell have actively supported King Ro behind the scenes. Crook provided bookkeeping services and Russell assisted with ordering and organizing.
“B.J. was still doing all the nuts and bolts,” Crook said. “Every morning, sometimes four in the morning before he goes to the other job, he’s doing all the ordering. I’m doing all the payroll. I’m handling all the money.”
Despite a premature announcement of the sale in November 2022, no money actually changed hands in the deal, and the purchase and sale agreement was never signed, Crook and Russell said.
The couple closes the business acknowledging a heartbreaking loss, knowing full well what the landmark store means to the community. Crook and Russell said it had been important to them to sell the business to someone who understood the store’s role locally. The couple had declined several offers before the Libbys stepped forward in 2022.
Owen Libby who grew up with the Crook’s daughter, and Amity Libby, seemed to be ideal buyers.
“My daughter and Owen have been best friends since kindergarten,” Crook said. “He grew up coming to my house. We were so pleased it was going to be him. We thought it was going to be the perfect fit and we are so disappointed it didn’t work out.”
The building housing King Ro has been home to a general store since it was first built by Alexander E. Yates in 1874. Except for a brief period following the death of then-owner Artel Bryant in 1968, a general store has been in continuous operation on the site ever since.
B.J. Russell began working at King Ro in 1991, and finalized the purchase of the business from his parents in 1995.
“There are the same people in there every single day who are not going to be able to stand it,” Crook said. “And our dog is almost the one we are most worried about. He is 13 and a half and he can’t stand it if he’s not there. B.J. has to take him up there first thing in the morning. He has the biggest fan club. It is going to be tough on everybody really.”
Crook and Russell want to assure friends and neighbors the decision to close King Ro, and change their direction regarding the sale of property does not mean a change for them. They remain happily married, devoted to each other and to Round Pond, and they are on firm financial ground.
“B.J. and I have never lived anywhere else, and we don’t want to,” Crook said. “We have a cottage down on Pemaquid Harbor. That is as far as we go.”
“Very rarely do we ever get off the peninsula and why would we?” Russell said. “Millionaires spend millions to spend a month or two here in the summer and we get to stay here year-round.”
Fran and June Russell stand in the doorway of King Ro Market in Round Pond on their first day in business in June 1971. The building has housed a general store-type business almost continuously since 1874. (Courtesy photo)
