Grocery Stores, Including Lucky, Are Closing Locations Best Life
We're all feeling the effects of inflation at the grocery store—it almost feels like going out to eat would be more affordable. Still, we need options at home, which means a trip to the supermarket is likely part of your weekly routine. However, many shoppers are facing yet another problem, as grocery stores nationwide are shutting down. In February, Walmart announced nearly a dozen impeding closures—with some already shuttered for good—and Target confirmed it will be closing four smaller-format stores this spring. Now, Lucky, Winn-Dixie, and other grocery stores announced that they too are closing locations. Read on to find out which stores are shutting down, starting April 10.
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A Winn-Dixie store in Lakewood Ranch, Florida, is the first store to close on April 10, the Bradenton Herald reported. The supermarket, located at 11525 State Road 70 East has been open for less than three years.
In a statement to Best Life, a spokesperson for Southeastern Grocers Inc., Winn-Dixie's parent company, called the decision to close "difficult."
"While we understand that closing this store will impact the local community, we want to assure you this decision was not made lightly," the spokesperson said.
Winn-Dixie didn't provide additional reasoning for the closure, but did confirm that current employees have been offered positions at nearby stores.
"The Lakewood Ranch Winn-Dixie store will be working hard to continue delivering the great service and value our customers have come to expect until the time of closure in April," the spokesperson said.
A Lucky supermarket in Larkspur, California, a suburb of San Francisco, is also on the chopping block after 40 years in business, SFGATE reported.
The store, located at 570 Magnolia Ave. will see its final day on April 14, Save Mart Companies (Lucky's parent company), said in a statement to Best Life.
The company added that employees will be offered positions at other locations in the area, but provided no other reasoning as to why the Larkspur Lucky store is closing.
"Lucky has been serving the community for decades and we will remain committed to serving the community at our full-service Novato Lucky store located at 1761 Grant Ave.," the company said.
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Those in the South Lake Tahoe area of California will formally bid adieu to the Raley's supermarket in Crescent V shopping center in early June, SFGATE reported. The impending closure is due to "failed rent negotiations," according to Chelsea Minor, executive director of community impact and public affairs for Raley's. Minor spoke with the Tahoe Daily Tribune in February, addressing concerns from employees, community members, and local officials.
"We've been in negotiations for about a year, but have not been able to come to an agreement with the landlord," Minor told the outlet, noting that Raley's proposed several "different solutions."
"I don't want the team or the customers to think we didn't want to stay. It has always been our intent to stay in this location. We hoped for a different outcome," Minor added.
Interestingly enough, on March 11, the City of South Lake Tahoe tweeted that the Raley's location—located at 4000 Lake Tahoe Blvd.—would be closed until further notice following a snowstorm.
"The building has been evacuated due to structural concerns and for the safety of employees and patrons," the tweet reads. A second Raley's store at 1040 Emerald Bay Road closed the next day out of precaution, per The Sacramento Bee.
However, while the Emerald Bay store reopened, the Raley's at Crescent V is still listed as "Temporarily Closed" on Raley's website. Best Life reached out to Raley's for comment, and to see if the store will reopen again before June. We will update the story upon hearing back.
According to News10NBC, Hegedorn's Market, a mainstay in Webster, New York, is shutting down at the end of June. The store confirmed the closure on March 27, ending a 70-year run in business.
"Unfortunately, we haven't been able to weather the storm enough, and we're at the point right now business-wise where the competition was a little too tough, and we're just not able to continue past June of this year," Jon Gonzalez, the store's market manager, told News10NBC.
Gonzalez added that management is working to help place current employees, who he said are "awesome" and "have been fantastic."
Still, customers are sad to see the local store depart, having shopped at Hegedorn's for decades.
"There's always special things to come here that other stores don't have, and they have their own baking department that has unique and special items, and their meat is wonderful," Hegedorn's customer Melinda Gaudioso told News10NBC.
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