![]() ![]() Lisa's pitch to Wahlberg appeared to be going well and he seemed on the verge of investing in Green Zebra when the pandemic hit, the world collapsed, and Lisa was left utterly exposed. She also was extraordinarily transparent about it all a couple of years ago she was on "Wahl Street," a sort-of documentary on HBO Max about actor Mark Wahlberg's entrepreneurial efforts. It is hard enough to grow any business, but at the precise time she needed a serious capital infusion, the pandemic kicked in and made it almost impossible. To be fair, few of the past 10 years probably have been easy for Lisa. Green Zebra hardly is the only business facing difficult decisions at this particular economic juncture. Coming out of roles at both Whole Foods and New Seasons Markets (where she was CEO for seven years), she tried something different, to tap into what she saw as an unexplored niche. Sedlar said that as she winds down the business, "We will pay all of our team members in full, including their accrued vacation hours." She said that she is "personally reaching out to other local grocery leaders and encouraging them to hire our team members," who she described as "knowledgeable grocery professionals who provide the highest level of service." In addition Green Zebra supported its staff with fair wage jobs, increasing their internal minimum wage seven times in their 10 year history and offering affordable health insurance for all staff and their dependents." Instead of selling cigarettes, lottery tickets and jumbo-sized sugary drinks like most convenience stores, Green Zebra offered customers made-from-scratch grab-and-go meals, a full service coffee bar, kombucha Zlurpees, locally sourced meat, produce and groceries along with the best local beer selection in Oregon. Green Zebra's mission from day one has been to "redefine what it means to be a convenience store in America. ![]() We are thankful for the opportunity to have been in service to our community.” ![]() We definitely gave it our all and fought the good fight. Combine that with supply chain and staffing shortages and razor thin grocery margins, we just couldn’t overcome all the obstacles. “We experienced 9 straight quarters of increases to our cost of goods, packaging, fuel, insurance, taxes, freight charges and well, pretty much everything. “We have been holding on by a thread since the pandemic started and have been in austerity mode since then,” said Lisa Sedlar, Green Zebra's Founder and CEO. Green Zebra, the Portland, Oregon, "healthy convenience store" that began operations a decade ago, announced this morning that it will wind down operations and close all three of its units at the end of the month. ![]()
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