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Could we compile a list of the Merc owner/operators ... I'll format and collate your reply.
Seems NancyF mentioned one in the skating rink history, but I could be mistaken.
Also,
Owner Operator Approx Years
Burt Loupee Rainbow 'n Adam 2020-2021
Mike Kent Rainbow 'n Adam 20??-2020
Mike Kent Joe Howlett 20??- (pre flood, sold to Rainbow)
Mike Kent Joe and Susie 19??-2013
Rich & Karen Mastran
Mike Kent Bianca Storlazzi 198?-1988(?)
Donna Rabbit
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Those who ran the Merc
When I first moved to town it was Ruth and John Hannrahan with Bianca, (serving “house water”) then Bianca with Donna, Karen and Richie, RobinTurcotte with Glenn Carbone, then Suzie Howlett with Glenn Carbone, then Suzie and Joey, then Joey, Joey and Rainbow.
I think I got that right. ??♀️ Please feel free to correct me.
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The Haynes owned the Merc prior to 1981.
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12-03-2021, 12:06 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-03-2021, 12:13 PM by BurtL.)
Robert, thank you for reaching out to recover Jamestown history. It's a noble cause.
I recently had the opportunity to meet and talk with Doug Haynes, the son of Don and Beverly Haynes. I reached out to him for more info on this question and he has given me some info and promised to pick his brain for some more.
His parents bought the Merc building in December 1963 from Glen and Lorraine Upp and owned it until 1975 when they sold it to Mike. He previously related how his mom found an ad for the Merc in a Denver paper while out here skiing and somewhat on a whim they bought it.
Jean King recently related a story to me about how Don Haynes ran a small butcher shop in the Merc space and would periodically take a cow up to Slaughterhouse Gulch and, well, slaughter it. I had the impression he was not previously a butcher but not sure on that.
Doug told me his father also worked at a feldspar mine somewhere up the canyon but quit when they wanted him to start working under ground instead of on the surface.
Doug had previously told me that his mother ran the post office in the Merc and at one point the USPS wanted to build a new post office and the community rebelled against that in favor of the space they had. I'm waiting on a further reply from him on what else they sold or served from the Merc in that period.
We, KT Oxford and I, actually bought the Merc from Mike in 2019. Over two years already, how time flies!
Also, I recall that Rainbow and Adam just had an anniversary of the date they took over the Cafe from Joey. It was on the QT a little while back but now I don't recall whether it was 10 or 12 years. 10, I thought.
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My college roomie and I moved into the west apartment upstairs in the fall of 1975. Mike and Lorna had just bought the building. In lieu of a security deposit, we cleaned the place up; it was gruesome. We paid $150 a month rent. If we needed something from the store (usually Chips Ahoy cookies!), Lorna would do cashier duties.
We didn't have a car so hitchhiked to classes at CU and back on weekdays.
The post office downstairs was open, I don't remember who ran it, but our address was "General Delivery, Jamestown."
To take out the trash we walked or hitched down to the dumpster just below the Lefthand Canyon junction and walked back. Often, 3 or 4 neighborhood dogs would walk with us. My roomie's mom insisted that she move back to Michigan on winter break and I moved back to Boulder. Lot of fond memories of that time.
I moved back into the west apartment around the fall of 2003 and lived there for 4+ years. Mike and Lorna still owned the building. Suzie was primarily running the Merc, though who "owned" the business I don't remember.
