The Smith's Food & Drug that has served residents of American Fork for 29 years is closing at 6 p.m. Saturday.
Shopping in the Utah County bedroom community has changed, with a new Wal-Mart, Costco and other stores opening in retail complexes east of I-15. Typically, Smith's remodels its stores every 10 years, and the American Fork store was due for a remodel, but the company has decided to close the store's doors.
"It's rare that we close a store," said Marsha Gilford, Smith's vice president of public affairs. "We don't do that very often. That store has been underperforming for quite a while. The market has changed quite a bit in the American Fork shopping area. It was more competitive."
There will be no layoffs. All 61 employees have been promised jobs at other stores. "We worked with them individually to find the best transfer for them," Gilford said.
Smith's management is in discussions to sell the 65,000-square-foot portion of the building it owns to Woodbury Corp., which owns the other part of the building and other property nearby.
Gilford said the recession didn't play into the decision to close the store, because it hadn't been performing well for years.
"We don't see that as a factor," she said. "It's just more local market conditions and looking at the return on our investment. There's no question overall the economy is making people use more coupons, buy private labels, but we don't see the economy as the lone factor with this store."
Loyal American Fork customers can travel to the 120,000-square-foot Smith's Marketplace, which sells apparel and furniture, to the north.
"When you have a large store like that it becomes a destination, and it draws from a large area," Gilford said.
Casi Smith, who has shopped at the American Fork Smith's three times a week for 15 years, says the convenience of the store to her home, dentist and other services will be irreplaceable. She thinks the Lehi Smith's is too far.
"We thought their prices were quite reasonable most of the time," she said. "We liked their employees and the convenience of the store."
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