Closure of Lichter & Levin deli in Northampton sparks GoFundMe response
NORTHAMPTON — Employees at the now-closed Lichter & Levin Delicatessen have turned to the online fundraising site GoFundMe for help, sparking a response from their former employers who say they had no choice but to shut down just five months after opening the doors.
The GoFundMe campaign started by Sarah Ricker, of Easthampton, has raised more than $12,200 toward a $15,000 goal as of Tuesday afternoon. The site doesn't say how many intended recipients there, and Ricker didn't respond to calls and emails Tuesday.
But in her essay on the site, she called out Lichter & Levin owners Emily Lichter, Ben Wool and Ben Levin for closing the store abruptly.
"No one is hiring. And to lay off your entire team 11 days before Christmas, and on the first night of Hanukkah feels comically cruel," she wrote.
News broke of the deli's impending closure Dec. 5. The last day was Dec. 14.
There is no record of Lichter & Levin notifying state unemployment officials, said state Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development spokesman Matthew Kitsos.
MassHire Rapid Response reached out to Lichter & Levin prior to closing, as the local career center notified the group of the closure, Kitsos said. Rapid Response helps manage layoffs by developing a transition plan, providing information on career services and business resources, and providing reemployment support to affected employees.
No one from Lichter & Levin could be reached Tuesday. But on social media, ownership said it was clear that the business wasn't sustainable and continuing would have only meant bigger losses.
"Our intention was never to mistreat employees or walk away lightly," ownership wrote Dec. 21.
The trio opened Lichter & Levin Delicatessen in July after kicking around the idea of a Jewish delicatessen for more than two years.
The deli replaced The Roost, a coffee shop. Roost owner Robyn Wynn leads the company that still owns the building, according to records kept by the city and the Massachusetts Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth.
Stories by Jim Kinney
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