RESIDENTS LAMENT SCHNUCKS CLOSING

Customers went about their business Saturday, shopping at their neighborhood grocery store at the corner of South Sprigg and William streets.

But in two weeks, they'll have to go elsewhere for their groceries.

Schnucks has announced it will close the store July 26. The company said the store had experienced declining sales.

Customers said the closing is more than just an inconvenience for them. It is a blow to the neighborhood, they said.

The closing leaves Save-A-Lot on Spanish Street as the only grocery store serving the downtown and midtown areas.

"It's a heartbreak," said Mike Woelk, pastor of the Livingway Foursquare Church. "This is my neighborhood and I love it," said Woelk, whose church and residence is in the 1200 block of Bloomfield.

Woelk said he understands why the store is closing. "They have got to make money," he said.

But the Cape Girardeau minister said residents need to rally around their neighborhood. He said his church is trying to help.

"I believe the spiritual end of things is a real key," he said.

"There are no easy answers," said Woelk. "It takes a group effort."

"I don't like it," South Frederick Street resident Lee McClellon said of the store closing. McClellon shops at the store almost daily.

"The south end of town needs a large store for shopping," said McClellon as he left the supermarket with bag of ice Saturday morning.

"It will be a damaging blow to this end of town," he said.

Ethel Weakly stopped by the store Saturday. She lives on South Benton.

"It is going to hurt the neighborhood," she said. "A lot of old people live in the neighborhood."

A number of the neighborhood residents walk or ride their bicycles to the store.

The store also is popular with Southern Illinois residents.

Duane Kinsey owns a farm near East Cape Girardeau, Ill. His family regularly shops at Schnucks Midtown.

The village of East Cape Girardeau doesn't have a grocery store, he said.

Kinsey and his son, Wesley, stopped by the Schnucks store Saturday.

Wesley Kinsey owns My Daddy's Cheesecake shop in downtown Cape Girardeau.

"I just hate to see it closed," Wesley Kinsey said.

He said he liked to shop at the store because he knew where everything was on the store shelves.

"I couldn't believe they couldn't make money," he said.

Pam Burger of Cape Girardeau has worked as a cashier at the store for two years.

She also is part owner of Bruce's Hickory Smoked Bar-B-Que.

The business currently operates Thursday through Saturday on the southeast corner of the Schnucks parking lot.

But when Schnucks Midtown closes, the barbecue operation will be expanded to six days a week.

Burger said the Schnucks company has indicated that the barbecue business can stay.

Burger said Schnucks Midtown was more of a convenience store for many of its customers. "We don't get a lot of big grocery business down here," she said.

Still, she said, she wished the store weren't closing. The neighborhood won't be the same without it, she said.

When the new Mississippi River bridge opens, much of the traffic will disappear from William Street in favor of the new Highway 74 highway that will connect to Interstate 55, Burger said.

"That will kill this area completely," she said.

But others like Woelk aren't ready to call it quits yet.

Woelk said he won't give up on the neighborhood. On Sunday, his church will host a block party on Bloomfield Road between Henderson and Park.