Residents react to store closing

Shelves at Heritage IGA in Upper Sandusky have little to no items as the store gets ready to close on Saturday, after being open for 11 months.

Many of the shelves are empty at Heritage IGA. After being open for 11 months, the Upper Sandusky grocery store will close for good on Saturday.
“I was surprised that they were closing,” Upper Sandusky resident Sonia Carr said. “I’m going to miss the convenience and the daily specials.”
“I’m sad that’s it’s closing,” local resident Cathy Browne added. “It’s only a block away from my house. I hate to see anything closing in a town that’s trying so hard to recover. Anytime anything closes and there’s a loss of jobs, it’s sad.”
The store employed 50 workers.
“We just weren’t doing the sales,” owner Dave Kelch said last week when asked why he was closing the store.
Some Upper Sandusky residents who did not want their names published said the store’s prices were too high.

A sign in front of Heritage IGA informs shoppers that the store is closing and prices have been slashed by at least 20 percent.

“I went one time and the prices were high and I never went back,” one local resident said. “I can go to Aldi’s and buy stuff cheaper.”
“My grandson used to go and buy Powerade at IGA everyday and one day he went next door to Rite Aid and found out it was cheaper, so he stopped going to IGA,” added another Upper Sandusky resident. “My grandson told me, ‘Grandpa, I can get it 50 cents cheaper at Rite Aid.’ When a kid says that, you know it’s high.”
All items in the store were discounted 20 percent all week in anticipation of the closing.
“The stuff on sale you can still get cheaper other places,” said one shopper, who left the store empty-handed on Thursday.
Upper Sandusky resident Ardena Bell said she likes the store, but she doesn’t drive and was unable to get there to shop.
“I hate to see it go out of business,” Bell said. “I know people on that side of town really appreciated it.”
Local resident Cathy Hiner also said she liked the store, but she was used to shopping elsewhere.
“I thought the store was really nice, the aisles were big and wide and the prices were comparable to those listed for other places, but I just had got used to shopping at A & A. That’s my grocery store of choice.”
Heritage IGA opened last June.
Editor’s note: It is the policy of The Daily Chief-Union never to use anonymous sources; however an exception was made in this story so that all sides could be accurately depicted.

By CHANDA NEELY
Staff writer

Posted by Daily Chief on May 25, 2012. Filed under Featured,Local News,Recent Headlines,Recent Pictures. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry