Station A shuttered for second time in Old Town Auburn

The brief spark of hope for the future of Station A has dimmed with its second closure this year. Station A, previously the Old Town Post Office, initially closed its doors at 1583 Lincoln Way in September, when mail for the active post office boxes was transferred to the postal location on Nevada Street. On Oct. 31, Allen Rath opened The Key Shop and Mail at Station A as a second location to his locksmithing business and to preserve the historic mailboxes within the building. But Christina Geer-Ratcliff, Rath's mother and PR representative, said she and Rath decided to close the business after two weeks and have not operated since Nov. 16 due to a rent disagreement with the owners and issues with receiving mail from the United States Postal Service (USPS) as well as box holders being assigned boxes at the Nevada Street location instead. As a result, Geer-Ratcliff said she and her son have had to refund $1,200 to box holders and bear the cost of credit card fees to do so. "We decided that it was too toxic of a relationship," she said. "We just were like, 'We're not even going to do this.' So we ended up having to close the doors and give all the refunds back to the other people because it was just a fiasco between USPS and between the siblings that can't get along." In a statement on Facebook, Allen Rath said, "It was just too much drama to even pursue and continue to fight it. We decided to throw in the towel and move on so we can continue to grow the Rio Linda location. Our goal is to still expand into the Auburn area eventually after the holidays with a second locksmith and a different second location." The Auburn Journal reached out to USPS regarding the mail issue. Meiko Patton, a Postal Service spokesperson, said the postmaster confirmed all mail addressed to Station A is being delivered daily. Patton also confirmed box holders were assigned boxes at Nevada Street when Station A closed in September and were free to close that box and open a new one at the Old Town Auburn location. In an interview with the Auburn Journal, Geer-Ratcliff said she and Rath had a signed agreement with Ruben Ramirez, one of five siblings of Family Ramirez, Inc. who own the building, establishing rent at $500 per month for the first year and no payments due until January. Rent would then be $750 per month for the second year and $900 a month for the third. Geer-Ratcliff said after reopening the doors of Station A, the remaining siblings of Family Ramirez, Inc. advised she and Rath needed to pay $1,200 a month for rent, which would not be feasible for the new business. Maggie Ramirez-Ruiz, another sibling of Family Ramirez, Inc. said there was not yet a signed agreement. Ramirez-Ruiz told the Auburn Journal she and her siblings decided to waive the first month's rent since the business was in operation and immediately drafted a contract for the rental of Station A, hopeful to come to an agreement. "We were excited that this was coming back," Ramirez-Ruiz said of the Station A location. "We knew the community was excited." Ramirez-Ruiz said rent was $600 a month and the lessees were asked to pay rent along with a $600 deposit, $1,200 total, by Dec. 1. According to Ramirez-Ruiz, Geer-Ratcliff advised the agreement wouldn't work, to which Ramirez-Ruiz provided a two-week notice for them to vacate the space and return the key. "We're very, very sorry it didn't work out," Ramirez-Ruiz said. Ramirez-Ruiz said she and her siblings are open to finding someone who would be willing to run the Station A space as a post office. "Our goal is to see if we can find somebody else who could continue the legacy of it, and if not, we're hoping to find something else that will benefit the community in some way," she said. Geer-Ratcliff said she and Rath would be willing to resume operations at Station A if they could return to the original agreement of $500 per month starting in January. "If they would just honor our agreement that we had with him (Ruben), we would come back in and open everything back up," she said. Geer-Ratcliff said she and Rath want the community to know they are sorry to have to close Station A. "We really wanted to be there for the community and we hope that maybe after the holidays, the owners can figure it out so we can come back," she said.