Food 4 Less closes at 5 p.m. today, whether or not it sells the last of its canned tomatoes, product shelves or other leftover items at 2525 Iowa.
What moves into its place remains to be seen.
The store's owner/operator, Associated Wholesale Grocers, still has a lease for the place but has no plans to open any sort of grocery operation in the 40,000-square-foot building, said Scott Wilmoski, who handles real estate for the Kansas City, Kan.-based cooperative.
No matter what anyone might think, Wilmoski said, nobody has lined up the space - at least not yet.
"There's tons of rumors going on out there," said Wilmoski, who declined to disclose terms of the lease. "(But) the lease goes on, unless other arrangements are made."
The building's owner, Falgers Inc. of Lincoln, Neb., also hasn't found a potential tenant to move in alongside the shopping center's other two occupants, Office Depot and Tuesday Morning.
But people have been making inquiries - some qualified, some not - this month, once Food 4 Less announced it was leaving town after suffering declining sales and the prospect of Wal-Mart getting into the grocery business in the coming year.
Ken Schmanke, president of KS Commercial Real Estate Services Inc., which represents Falgers, said he already was reviewing a "long list" of potential tenants who typically could occupy such a space.
"There's not too many local, 40,000-square-foot tenants," Schmanke said. "It most likely will be a regional or national retailer."
Meanwhile, Food 4 Less continues to sell off the last of its products and fixtures at the Lawrence store. Only a relative handful of the nearly 30,000 items it had in stock at the beginning of the month remain.
With the closing date and time settled, one of the most popular customer questions - Are the registers for sale? - remains unanswered.
"People are asking, but I don't know," said Emily Blessing, a cashier who says she will start looking for another job this week. "I've worked here for 2 1/2 years, so it's kind of sad."
Comments
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Ragingbear (anonymous) says…
Well, I guess we will have to go elsewhere for over-priced, stale and low quality food. Food 4 Less bites. Go to checkers. They are local.
gontek (anonymous) says…
whole foods! whole foods! whole foods!
Wait, I am a merc member...
oh well.
whole foods! whole foods! whole foods!
just_another_bozo_on_this_bus (anonymous) says…
Whole Foods might come here, but I suspect they are aware of the fact that Wild Oats was already here and couldn't make it with a much smaller store than Whole Foods would want to open. I suspect that even the Merc's sales (approaching $10 million a year, I think) aren't high enough to interest Whole Foods yet.
Wal-Mart now sells more "organic" foods than anyone else, and I suspect that is one reason why the USDA is currently trying to redefine "organic" so that it is possible to do with factory farming techniques-- which, of course, will make the term all but meaningless.
gontek (anonymous) says…
I should just ask the merc to supply me with the wasabi soy nuts I have gotten addicted to from whole foods.
interesting info on the organic stuff at walmart and USDA.
aquakej (anonymous) says…
oh man, i would love a whole foods!! they are cheaper than the merc and they have better produce.
hawkrew (anonymous) says…
checkers sucks
hawkrew (anonymous) says…
whoops, didn't mean to make this two comments...
Whole foods would be a good addition, but the building will probably just sit there for a couple years empty and lonely...
LuckyNun (Tanya Spacek) says…
my husband and I became addicted to Trader Joe's carrot juice blends while we were out West. I wouldn't mind having Trader Joe's here, unless the Merc would start selling gallon jugs of carrot juice blends (hint, hint).
just_another_bozo_on_this_bus (anonymous) says…
Why don't you get a juicer and make your own if you're drinking it by the gallon-- it'd be much cheaper.
hawkrew (anonymous) says…
Trader Joe's is a good one too, we had those when I lived in Massachusetts.
craigers (anonymous) says…
Dick's Sporting Goods could be fun. Ceilings are too low though.
thisiknow (anonymous) says…
I am w/ you Craigers, Lawrence NEEDS a good Sporting Good store. We do not need another grocery. I am tired of going to KC for all my son's sporting goods that he needs for every sport.
redmorgan (anonymous) says…
Trader Joe's WOULD be awesome. They had them when I lived in Phoenix.
Although I realize that the old Food 4 Less building is not the right size, i really wish Lawrence had some better restaurants. There are a few pretty decent ones down on Mass, but everything else is like AppleBee's, Chili's, Carlos O'Kelly's, blah, blah, blah.
redmorgan (anonymous) says…
Oh, and Food 4 Less sucked!!! Good riddance.
hawkrew (anonymous) says…
Food 4 Less was alright for buying canned food or other long lasting items, but I would touch the meat there at all, too scary, similiar to checker's meat.
Marshalus (Michael Stanclift) says…
What is with the trashing of Checkers hawkrew?
red6102003 (anonymous) says…
Well saved some money on there sale. so have more money for the new years party at the Econo lodge with Sellout.Thanks Food 4 less, wonder what will be going into that location.
chucknoblet (anonymous) says…
Bring back Sacks! (sp?) or was it Sacs? Wasn't that the name of the store that used to be there? I loved shopping there whenever I was in town. Or how about Big Lots? Didn't I hear they were interested in coming to Lawrence, I think to that shopping center behind Arby's on 23rd, if I remember correctly? Could they fit in Food 4 Less's size store?
Confrontation (anonymous) says…
Big Lots announced that they were shutting down a ton of stores to make up for losses. I would rather have a Big Lots than another overpriced grocery store like the Merc.
lunacydetector (anonymous) says…
since a couple of the city commissioners are / were somehow affiliated with the merc, i wonder if a whole foods type store would have some extra special hoops to jump through to get approved.
gamer (Matt Cox) says…
Circuit City maybe.