Shopko To Close All Remaining Stores

Reasons for the demise of Kimball’s Shopko Hometown store extend far beyond the local store’s business performance alone.

“It’s a company issue,” Kimball City Administrator Dan Dean told the Observer on Tuesday.

It most certainly is.

Shopko said Monday, March 18, that it was closing its remaining stores because it was unable to find a buyer. The statement followed a U.S. bankruptcy court decision to cancel an ownership auction for the retail chain in favor of a bankruptcy consultant overseeing a liquidation under which the stores will close by June 16.

In Kimball, the news is pretty much water under the bridge as the community looks and hopes for solutions to fill the spacious Highway 71 store building near Interstate 80.

Dean said he has been in “off and on” contact with the property owner and is not aware of any developments regarding potential tenants to replace Shopko. He said the owner talked with a farm and ranch retailer about setting up shop, but the two sides were far apart on lease costs.

Shopko’s lifespan in Kimball extended beyond initial plans to close by Feb. 28 as it continued sales into March of store fixtures and inventory at prices up to 90 percent off.

Should anybody local want to contact Wisconsin-based Shopko, it appears to be a tall order at this point. On Tuesday, the Shopko website homepage greeted visitors with this message: “Sorry shopko.com is currently unavailable. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience.”

Word of the Kimball store shutdown came late last year when Shopko announced plans to close 39 stores in 17 states. Matters worsened for the company as it filed in January for court-supervised restructuring under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, announced plans in February to close 250 stores, and ultimately said Monday that its last 120 stores will close.

More than 1,300 supporters of the Kimball store joined an online campaign to save the store, and many emailed their concerns to Shopko corporate officials.