PROVO — Sixty-five years ago, when the green-painted, wood-sided Ream's on the corner of 900 West and Center had better days, its paper banners may have advertised a box of corn flakes for 25 cents or a can of Del Monte peaches for 29 cents.
Today, the paper banners say, "Closeout sale" and "Everything must go!"
The first store in the grocery company started by Paul Ream in 1945 is shutting its doors, the company confirmed Tuesday, a victim of the recession and a competitive grocery market in and around Provo.
The decision to close the store was hard for the company, which will continue running eight stores in Salt Lake County and one store in Layton.
"We're attached to it in many ways," said Carl Willoughby, general manager of Ream's Food Stores, based in Salt Lake City. A Ream's in Springville has had a different owner for almost 10 years.
Sales at the Provo store had been weak in recent years, and it lost money last year. Meanwhile, it faced growing competition: an Albertsons, now Fresh Market, just three blocks up the street; the Walmart in Orem that has been selling groceries for years; a Costco in Orem that draws customers from Provo; and WinCo Foods with a store planned for 800 North in Orem.
"Nowadays, people are willing to drive in their cars to get to the store," Ream said. "You can get to the store in 10 minutes."
Last year, Ream's tried to draw people in with "hot ads," or discounts. But people these days have no problem with driving to several stores to chase bargains. They may stop at Smith's for a sale on produce, Ream's for a sale on poultry and Fresh Market for bread. Ream's never made much of a profit on the hot ads — they were used to draw people inside the store to buy other items that had higher profit margins, Willoughby said.
"People are being very careful with how they spend," he said.
Downtown Provo had been home to many migrant workers from Mexico and Central America. They shopped at Ream's, Willoughby said. "When the construction dried up, they left the state," he said.
To be competitive, the Ream's store would have needed to be remodeled and expanded beyond its 12,000 square feet. But there is no space to expand, Willoughby said.
"We were just 'out-stored,' is what we call it," Willoughby said. "We were competing with much nicer stores."
The liquidation sale began Tuesday and will continue until all items are sold. Thirty-five people will be laid off. Ream's managers are calling other grocers and asking about jobs in an attempt to place them.
"They're great people, and we're sorry this has happened to them," Willoughby said. "It's hard to place all of them. There are no openings and everyone is keeping their jobs."
e-mail: lhancock@desnews.com. Twitter: laurahancock