A Grocery Chain Now Makes A Painful Closure in Missouri

May 15, 2024

A grocery chain now makes a painful closure in Missouri after discontinuing an innovative wellness brand, sources are confirming.

Schnucks Markets announced late last week that the grocery chain is abandoning its Eatwell Market concept.

Eatwell, a banner under Schnucks focusing on organic, all-natural food, even featuring locally-grown items, will shut down its stores.

The all-natural stores had two locations in Missouri about an hour and a half apart in Chesterfield and Columbia.

The grocery chain says it is planning to convert the store in Columbia to a traditional Schnucks and close the Chesterfield location for good.

However, the good news for the 40 employees whose store is closing is that the company promises to keep people working, and transfer them to other locations in nearby St. Louis.

Those who work at the store in Columbia will stay employed as it transitions, reports The-Sun.

Once Chesterfield is officially closed, the chain will be operating a total of 114 stores throughout the Midwest.

Schnucks opened their first Eatwell location in June 2020 at a closed-down Lucky’s Market grocery store.

Todd Schnuck, chairman and CEO of the chain, described Eatwell as a “great learning platform” for the company and said Columbia was an optimal place to launch since they have been well-established there for five decades already.

But Schnucks opened its second location, in Chesterfield, just last year.

At the time of that location’s opening, in March 2023, Schnuck described Chesterfield, as a way to offer “shoppers a store where they can stay focused on health and wellness while also discovering new, local items.”

But now, the food giant has decided to close both of these locations.

“After significant analysis and evaluation of what we could do to make each store more successful during current economic conditions,” Schnuck said in a statement.

“Making this a decision that was not made lightly.”

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Another massive retailer is now closing due to crime despite its location being a community staple for several years.

Rampant theft has led Walgreens to permanently close one of its major locations at the White Oak Shopping Center in Maryland, reports The-Sun.

Staff and shoppers told ABC affiliate WJLA-TV that the store was closed due to high rates of theft and crime.

Mobile security cameras were recently added by police in the parking lot around stores in the shopping center.

A source also told WJLA-TV that the shopping center’s management company had to fire their security company and hire a new one.

Just last year, there was an armed robbery inside Walgreens, resulting in a man and a woman taking an unknown amount of money and products.

Robberies have become a major problem in the area as stores get ransacked by violent thieves.

A resident told the outlet she was too scared to leave her car in the shopping center’s parking lot.

She says she saw another woman get assaulted and robbed.

“You can simply be walking and they take your purse and start running and they leave you with nothing,” said Sarah Rodriguez.

“That’s why when I’m here before I get out of my car I always look around first.”

Walgreens corporate execs announced earlier this year that about 150 stores will be closed throughout the US.

This would reduce the company’s corporate staff by about 10%, resulting in over 500 positions being eliminated.

News of a replacement for the store in the White Oak Shopping Center hasn’t been announced.

However, the center has been struggling to replace the Sears location that has sat vacant for over three years.

“Yeah, it’s not good, because everyone is complaining,” said resident Kokou Eafbo.

“This is the only pharmacy we have in this area and suddenly they close, we don’t understand.”

The shopping center had once been a thriving area full of shops in Montgomery County, reports The US Sun.

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