Giant Eagle Decides To Shutter Good Cents Stores
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Another discount grocery store is chain is closing.
First, Aldi bought Bottom Dollar stores, and those stores closed last month.
Now, Giant Eagle has decided to close its Good Cents stores.
There are eight Good Cents stores: four in the Cleveland area, two in the Erie area, one in Johnstown and one on McKnight Road in Ross Township.
Regular shoppers were surprised to learn all the stores will close by March 26.
"Oh, they are? Oh, that's terrible," said Dana McCollum of Ross, who has gotten used to shopping there every week because of low prices.
"While our Good Cents locations initially gained popularity, numerous business and economic factors have made it difficult to continue to successfully deliver the shopping experience customers have come to expect from Good Cents," said Giant Eagle spokesperson Dan Donovan.
Elaine Luther, a business management professor at Point Park University, says one of those factors, oddly enough, may be the economy has gotten better.
"It probably worked for those two years. Now that market is going away because the economy has recovered," said Luther.
The Ross Township store employs 35 people, but Giant Eagle says it will work to find them jobs elsewhere in the company.
Ironically, right next door is an empty space left when Bottom Dollar closed its doors last month after the discount grocer was bought by Aldi.
Some communities, such as Garfield, hope to learn next month if Aldi will open in some of those old Bottom Dollar locations.
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