“It used to be that people would buy their groceries here,” he said. “But now they go to Springfield to buy their groceries and come in here to buy what they forgot.
“Forgots don’t pay the bills,” he said.
The store that Shoemaker’s father started 70 years ago will officially close its doors on Nov. 20. The contents will then be moved to Shoemaker’s South Charleston store.
“We just think now is the time to concentrate our efforts into our store in South Charleston,” Shoemaker said, referring to his partnership with his sons. “Hopefully a lot of our customers will go there.”
Store cashier Renee Stabler, who has worked at the store for 11 years, said employees saw a reduction in sales when the Walmart store opened in east Springfield.
“We knew everybody was going to Walmart in the beginning, but we thought they’d come back,” she said. Stabler, along with 21 other employees, will lose her job with the closing.
“I don’t know how I’m going to survive,” she said as she took off her glasses to wipe away the tears. “I’m working two jobs now, trying to put my son through college.”
The closing is doubly hard for Stabler, who will miss the customers and her coworkers. For Shoemaker, it’s the loss of family history and memories.
“When I was 5, my mother made me a butcher’s apron so I could work at the store,” he said. “I grew up here. It’s been my life.”
Shoemaker said he would like to keep the store as a convenience mart but the building is too expensive to maintain for a small-store layout, he said.
“We’ll take care of our customers the best we can for as long as we can and then we’ll close the doors,” he said.
Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0347 or kmori@coxohio.com.
About the Author