Scanners beeped, the cash register clanked, and the shop door clunked as people strolled in - all business as usual Tuesday at the Portage Family Dollar store.
That will change Oct. 26.
Family Dollar is the latest in a string of businesses to shutter in the strip mall in the 1400 block of East Wisconsin Street. The mall once was home to a Walgreens and Pick'n Save, among other businesses. Now it only holds a Security Finance location.
Last week, the store's seven employees were notified that Family Dollar Store Inc. would not renew its lease in the strip mall. Most will receive an optional transfer to another store.
Employees were not allowed to speak about the closing; representatives from Family Dollar Store Inc. could not be reached to talk about reasons for not renewing the lease.
Despite the "going out of business" signs, several patrons Tuesday afternoon picked up complaint cards on the cashier's counter, saying they would write to corporate leadership and ask the chain to open another shop in town.
One loyal shopper, school teacher Jolene Routson, said the closing was a shame. She said she'll have to find a new place to get deals on school supplies.
Another longtime customer, Carolyn Gander, carried some resentment along with her newly purchased plastic bags and cosmetics.
"It's a good place to get all those extra values," she said.
Both said they were probably going to leave town to do their future shopping.
Columbia County considered buying the entire shopping center last year for $1.2 million. The county would have renovated the space for new offices. That contentious issue came to a 15-15 vote, but it needed a three-fourths majority to pass.
In July, Kirk Burnstad of Portage told the Common Council he wanted to open a 45,000-square-foot grocery store on the south side of the city, presumably at the old Pick'n Save location. He could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Family Dollar Store Inc., started in 1959 in North Carolina, has 6,700 stores in the continental United States, according to its website. There are four other locations within 30 miles of Portage and 136 in Wisconsin.
Financially, the discount chain profited in the recession, posting higher revenues each of the last five years, according to financial reports; 13 stores recently opened or will open soon.
None, however, are in Wisconsin, so Gander will have to find another place to get goods on the cheap.
"It's going to be sad when it goes, that's for sure," she said.
An employee at Security Finance said Tuesday the business plans to remain at that location.
745-3509
Posted in Local, News on Tuesday, September 7, 2010 11:30 pm
