Finance news. My opinion.

Good Eats, the start-up grocer that had planned to lease space where Corti Brothers grocery has operated for years on Folsom Boulevard in East Sacramento, plans to announce Wednesday that it will "back away" from its effort to locate there to give the Corti family a chance to resolve things with the building’s landlord.

In an open letter to grocer Darrell Corti and residents of East Sacramento, Good Eats partners Michael Teel — the former chief executive of the Raley's Inc. grocery chain — and Michael Ashker said they reached the decision after meeting with Corti last Friday.

"We have always held Mr. Corti and Corti Brothers in highest regard and our intention remains to find ways to work together with Darrell Corti," the letter states.

The partners said the possibility of opening their own store at the Corti site at 5810 Folsom Boulevard began when approached by a real estate broker last October about leasing there and were told that Corti Brothers would not be renewing its lease cash til payday loan. Negotiations began in earnest in April after the landlord confirmed that Corti wasn’t renewing, they said. They signed a lease agreement in July.

Corti, president of Corti Brothers, has said that he learned without warning in early July that he had lost the month-to-month lease for the store. He said he planned to close the Folsom Boulevard location Sept. 30, but that the store was profitable and would seek a new location.

It's unclear, however, whether the decision by Ashker and Teel means the Good Eats deal for that site is dead or on hold.

A separate Good Eats kitchen is opening at Folsom Boulevard and Seville Way, the partners stated.

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