The Save A Lot grocery store at 3610 Richardson Square Drive in Arnold closed on June 27, owner Robert Snyder III said.
He said the discount grocery store closed three days earlier than anticipated, but there were not enough products left to remain open until Monday, June 30, the originally scheduled closing date.
Snyder, 58, of St. Louis County said the costs to operate the grocery store have tripled recently, leading to the decision to close the location.
“Sales haven’t been strong enough to cover the expenses,” he said. “We have been hanging on for about a year. We should have done this probably about a year ago. We kept putting money in and doing more advertising. It just got to the point where we were out of money to throw at it.”
Snyder said the store typically employed 13 to 15 people, and some of the employees will continue to work for his other Save A Lot locations at 3667 Reavis Barracks Road in St. Louis County and 4324 Loughborough Ave. in St. Louis. He also helped some of his staff find jobs with other businesses.
“I gave everybody really good notice,” he said. “I gave them time so they didn’t have to go without paychecks. I called people I know around town, and they were able to get jobs with people I called. The rest will come up to my other two stores.”
Snyder said it was an emotional decision to close the Arnold store.
He said his father, Robert Snyder Jr., opened Snyder IGA in Arnold in 1969, adding that the store became a Save A Lot store in 1979.
The store moved to its current location on June 16, 1992, Snyder said.
“We appreciated everybody,” Snyder said of those who shopped at the family’s grocery store. “We are two generations in Arnold, and we went through two generations of customers. We went from the moms to the kids shopping with us.
“We appreciated being in Arnold for so long. It grew us from one store to several. It is just unfortunate, sometimes you have to make a tough call.”