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About a week ago the building that Harp’s Supermercado was in sold to an investment group. When a business of this size closes it starts rumors about the company. Especially with this bold concept, the buzz was that Harps Food Stores abandoned their Latin themed store.

Contrary to what you may think, large retailers often do not own the building or land that they operate out of. Auto Zone, Walgreens, and many other large companies have their building built to suite. For those of you wondering Wal Mart does in fact own their own land and buildings.

You may ask why a company with millions or even billions of dollars would not buy a building, but there are many advantages for the companies. Leases offer larger tax incentives and less liability, while owning creates larger tax liability and larger asset inventory. This brings me around to my original point, things aren’t always as they seem.

Harps reported that they were unable to get favorable terms for their lease renewal and decided to leave that location in favor of building a traditional store. Now how much of this is truly a lease problem and how much of this is due to a failed model we may never know. Harps took a bold step by creating a large grocery store that catered directly to the Latin community. I am not saying that Northwest Arkansas has a lack of Latin Americans or that it is bad for business to cater to them. The problem is that by naming a large store “Supermercado” you alienate a large part of our population.

Now I could get into immigration and assimilation but that is for another blog. I want to know what you think, did Harps do the right thing? Do you think they closed due to bad sales? Or pressure? Or was it really unfavorable lease terms? Here’s what I know, many people did not like that they made that store. So much so that they did not shop at Harps because of it. They may come back now claiming some sort of moral victory, or they may remember this until they day they die. Many other people loved that they made that store. They had a place to find things they couldn’t get before, without going to a small store with little selection.

In the end the store is gone, the building has sold, and Harps doesn’t seem to be making a new move for a supermercado anytime soon. It will be interesting to see what goes in there.