Greg Martin, owner of Primal at 725 Meeting St., in West Columbia has announced that Primal has shut down. He said Brickhouse Coffee will remain open at the meeting Street location, and Dorsia Pasta Co. is also in the building. Below is a letter Martin posted on Primal’s Facebook page.

First and foremost, I want to say THANK YOU to all our customers, past and present. Each one of you made a choice to let us be your source for healthy, locally focused prepared foods. While there are always other options, you chose to spend your money with us and that is one of the greatest compliments I can think of. Frankly, developing Primal Gourmet and being its owner is the greatest achievement of my life. This company has given me so much regarding innumerable new friends and good lifelong memories in the more than six years I’ve been at this helm.

Today I have the unfortunate task of announcing that the operations of Primal Gourmet (PRIMAL) will be shutting down effective immediately. There will be no meal packs for this week or moving forward. If you are one of the few that had an order process for this week before we shut the ordering platform down, you have a refund already processed automatically and should see that confirmed in your account very soon. The market operations will remain open Monday, April 4th for normal hours or until product has sold out. There will be a discount of 30% applied to any purchase of all PG market items for this day only.

I would like to make this next statement in all caps so no one can miss it or mistake it. THE BUSINESSES THAT HAVE MOVED INTO THE FACILITY WILL REMAIN OPEN!!!! BRICKHOUSE GOURMET COFFEE AND TEAS, AND DORSIA PASTA CO. ARE BOTH STILL OPERATING AND OPEN FOR BUSINESS. THERE ARE MORE NEW BUSINESSES MOVING IN AS WELL!!! So while Primal Gourmet will no longer be open at 725 Meeting Street, the market will still remain as what I’m calling a “Collaborative Market”. Other new businesses will be opening soon as well. I am proud to say what comes after Primal Gourmet could be even better that what we accomplished! Once we have our new residents in place, we will be introducing a name change for the market and a Grand Opening!

I am sure you want to know the reason we are closing operations after six great years. As you can imagine, it’s not just one issue. It’s many, many problems that became too complex and daunting to overcome. If anyone is to blame for the situation we found ourselves in, of course that person is me. While I consider myself an expert in foodservice operations, this was my first time ever owning a business. Let me tell you, I learned more than I ever realized there was to know about being a business owner and still didn’t learn enough. Luckily though, I got to lead an incredible staff. We have been fortunate enough to employ without a doubt the best group of humans that ever ran a foodservice establishment. I mean that. If I had a nickel for every time someone complimented me on my team, I wouldn’t have any problems today. That I can tell you.

In closing, I want to thank you all again for all the support you showed us in these last six years. We were proud of our little community and being able to support all things local in ways no one else could. We made a difference in other people’s lives because you were our customers and supported what we did. Never stop doing that for the other local guys. Keep coming to see our friends at the market, they make really good stuff!

With Gratitude,

Greg H. Martin