Disbelief and sadness mark Du Quoin Kroger closing March 23
Since before World War II the City of Du Quoin and Kroger have been inseparable, a giant among the 18 neighborhood groceries the town once had, the A & P store (which had a bowling alley above it), the Sanitary Market, Midwest Grocery, Mad Pricer and later Food Park.
On Tuesday, the announcement of a 3:30 p.m. meeting of all employees "with refreshments" blind-sided the store's 60 employees who were told by Kroger corporate executives the Du Quoin store will close on or about March 23, 2013.
Some employees had an inkling, but the mood turned ominous as employees from Kroger stores in Carbondale, Marion and Nashville began staffing the checkout lanes and the customer service desk so Kroger personnel could meet together in the back of the store.
The Du Quoin Evening Call and other media got calls from Louisville, Ky. marketing director Tim McGurk to forewarn the newspaper as to what the meeting was about.
"It is very rare for Kroger to close a store," said McGurk. "We have a great staff of associated and it is no reflection on them or our customers," McGurk said. "The store has been losing a half million dollars a year for the past several years."
He said the fourth quarter 2012 numbers were just coming into the Louisville, Ky. division office and it didn't look good. "Our losses will be above $600,000 for 2012."
If the area rallies for the store during the next two months, could the decision be made to keep the store open? "I wouldn't get my hopes up," said McGurk.
He said employees are part of a collective bargaining unit with seniority rights. He said employees with seniority have a week to decide if they would like to transfer to another Kroger store in the area or take a severance package to be offered by Kroger. "We will be collaborating with employees to work through this process," he said.
Carbondale district manager Gina Sherland and others who came out of the staff meeting said they couldn't comment.
Linda Hobbs, a senior staff member in Du Quoin, said she couldn't comment either. "It's all a shock right now," as shoppers passed through the checkout lanes now suspecting the turn of events.
The news spread like fire over Facebook.
The latest Kroger store--one of five in Du Quoin's historic relationship--was opened in May 1980 as an anchor for Herrin developer Wayne Oestmann's Southtowne Shopping Center development. It had Kroger on the southeast corner, the Revco Pharmacy next door and the original Walmart store to the northwest.
Actually, the first business to open as part of that development was the Pasquale's Restaurant to the east which later became Broadway Video and now the One Stop Smoke Shop.
A savings and loan, now Regions Bank, built nearby. It was all part and parcel of a booming mining economy that launched Du. Quoin's Rt. 51 south side business development.
Nearby, Walmart would build its own stand alone super center in 1998 and the two shopping areas would be connected by a common Fronek Way three years ago.
The Du Quoin State Bank park developed across the highway. The MotoMart, Super 8 Motel and Sonic and Chip Banks Chevrolet followed.
"This is kind of 'all hands on deck'," said finance commissioner Rex Duncan, soon to be Du Quoin's Mayor.
"I'm getting hold of Mantracon (the Southern Illinois labor training and assistance program) first," he said. "We will have to be aggressive," he said.
Most food and pharmacy are not taxes, so the sales tax impact to Du Quoin should not be significant. However, there is a significant impact because of the spending power of Kroger employees in the community.
Mayor John Rednour said the city and its economic development personnel will do all that it can to help identify a new tenant. The space--which has been under lease by Kroger--is both visible and marketable. It could be an opening for a company like Aldi.
With the closure of the Kroger pharmacy, companies like Walgreens or CVS may reconsider Du Quoin. At one time one or both had an interest in the Dairy Queen property.
For the time-being, some of the stores in the adjacent strip mall may be impacted as a matter of customer traffic to Southtowne.
Kroger came to Du Quoin before World War II as Kroger/Piggly Wiggly at the corner of East Main Street and South Oak (where Zimmerman Chiropractic and Doc Z's Fitness) are now located.
It then opened in the IOOF building on East Main Street and later moved to a beautiful new store just north of the Du Quoin City Hall. That storefront became Value Plus liquors and finally an archery shop and martial arts school, before it burned.
Before relocating to the Southtowne Shopping Center it was housed in a storefront on South Washington in what is now Du Quoin Furniture behind the Super Wash.
Kroger is the nation's leading grocer with a high credit rating. The Cincinnati-based company operates Kroger, Ralphs, Smith's and Food 4 Less chains, and net income jumped to $316 million for the third quarter that ended Nov. 3. The company owns and operates well over 1,000 stores and plans to relocate or build 50 stores this year. The Du Quoin closure is the only one in the Louisville, Ky. district.