Sundance Owner Gavin McComas Remembered, Trust Safeguards Store's Future

Gavin McComas, who owned and operated Sundance Natural Foods in south Eugene for four decades, died on Nov. 25 at age 79. Colleagues and neighbors remembered him for generosity and community mindedness, and his decision two years ago to donate ownership of the store to a perpetual purpose stewardship trust has formalized a plan to keep Sundance rooted in the neighborhood. The stewardship trust is run by current and former employees, and it is charged with preserving the shop s mission and protecting it from sale.

McComas acquired and built the business over 40 years, cultivating relationships with staff and customers and embedding the store in local daily life. In 2023 he transferred ownership into the Sundance Perpetual Purpose Stewardship Trust, a legal structure designed to maintain operational continuity and to align governance with the values he practiced. That structure places decision making with people who know the store and its community role, rather than with outside investors who might seek to convert the site.

People who worked with McComas recall small acts that summed up his approach to retail and community care. He routinely served tea and took an active interest in the wellbeing of employees. He supported local students through a program of Sundance Dollars that helped pay for school lunches. He also collaborated with other independent grocers on civic issues, positioning the store not only as a place to buy food but also as an institutional partner in south Eugene civic life.

For customers and workers the immediate effect is stability. By removing the store from the market, the trust reduces the risk that Sundance will be bought and repurposed in ways that could disrupt jobs, local supply relationships and access to specialty products that customers rely on. That matters in a broader economic context where independent grocers often confront consolidation pressures, and where community anchored ownership can preserve local decision making about pricing, sourcing and employment practices.

With governance already in place under employee and former employee trustees, Sundance is positioned to carry forward McComas s priorities for service and staff care. His death marks the end of a personal stewardship era, and the trust model now offers a mechanism to sustain the store s community role into the long term.