It’s checkout time at The Farms.
The mom-and-pop grocery that has been a staple on Montana Avenue for four decades is set to close October 30 — giving loyal customers barely two weeks to say goodbye.
According to manager Guy Britten, the business has been bleeding an estimated $1000 per day since the death of longtime owner-operator Sean McGuire in November 2025.
“You can’t turn around a $30,000-a-month loss,” he told The Sun Friday, hours after the staff of nine learned they would soon be losing their jobs.
Britten said new management and “forensic accountants” had been brought in to rescue the neighborhood market at 2030 Montana Avenue, but the current owner, Carolyn McGuire, was still digging into her own pocket every month to keep it afloat.
Ultimately, Britten said, “people representing her interests told her she had no choice but to close.”
For some employees, the news means finding a new job after years (or decades) behind the same counters. For neighborhood seniors who walk over for groceries, it means losing a daily stop they can’t easily replace.
A troubled final chapter
The Sun has learned that the store had two years remaining on its lease, but legal complications following Sean McGuire’s death made negotiating with the landlord nearly impossible. Britten confirmed that an attorney representing the property had stopped responding to requests to modify lease terms.
Public records identify the building owner as NYC-based holding firm KLM Market Properties, a subsidiary of KLM Equities, whose local portfolio includes 2301 Wilshire Blvd. (the Citigroup building) and 1415 Third Street Promenade (the Apple Store).
County records describe the market as a 4,000-square-foot building on two lots totaling 8,000 square feet. It was listed for sale in 2019 without finding a buyer. At that time, The Farms was paying $14,063 a month in rent.
But court documents also reveal another, perhaps more direct link to the collapse. For over a decade, The Farms’ rent was heavily subsidized by a hefty internal sub-lease.
Under a unwritten agreement that began in 2022, head butcher Juan D. Lopez — who started working at the store at age 15 — was paying McGuire and McGuire, Inc. $11,200 a month to run the hot deli counter as his own business. That single check covered over 79% of the building’s total master rent, allowing the market to survive on sales of grocery items like milk, fruit and potato chips.
The battle in court
But that financial arrangement –– which began a decade earlier as a payment of 3% of sales –– blew up after just one year.
In December 2023, Lopez sued his former bosses in LA County Superior Court (Case No. 23SMCV05829). He alleged the store double-deducted sales taxes — charging shoppers at the register while also taking those same taxes out of his weekly cut of sales. In total, Lopez claimed $239,212 in improper deductions over 11 years.
The store responded by filing a cross-complaint against its accounting firm. Court records show Lopez formally settled and dismissed the lawsuit in July 2025.
But when Lopez and his monthly rent check walked out the door, The Farms was left fully exposed to Westside commercial overhead.
The pressure worsened earlier this year when ownership fired a beloved longtime store manager, sparking social media outrage and boycott threats. Britten says that customer backlash faded after about a month: “For the most part, the community supported us.”
But by then, the writing was on the wall.
The cost of staying open
A California management veteran of 30 years, Britten blamed the combined burden of wages, taxes, licensing and other overhead.
“Everybody thinks the answer is raising the minimum wage,” he said. “Well, how is that the answer if mom-and-pop businesses can’t afford to pay it and have to shut their doors?”
For the market’s staff, the financial reckoning is now personal.
“For a lot of the younger kids, this is the only job they’ve ever had,” Britten said. “They’ll find other jobs, but it’s tragic. It’s sad.”
Customers will feel the loss, too.
“There are senior citizens on fixed incomes living in the old apartment buildings who walk here for their milk and a $3 cup of coffee in the morning,” Britten said. “That’s what makes it so hard.”
Britten said management is hoping to find a liquidation company to take the remaining inventory. If no deal comes together, the neighborhood market may end its four-decade run with a last-minute fire sale.
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