The IGA Market Place and Do-It Best Hardware store, staples of northwest Lincoln for the last 12 years, will be closing early in the new year.
Owner Peter Clark announced over the weekend that the stores, which occupy the same building at 4646 W. Huntington Ave., along with an in-store Subway sandwich shop, have lost their lease.
The building was put on the market in October, before negotiations for a new lease were complete.
"Unfortunately, an agreement could not be made that would leave us with a favorable lease, in which we could operate the business in a successful, financially reasonable manner," Clark said in a written statement, adding he was given "no other choice than to close."
The lease expires Jan. 31.
"We hope to continue our regular daily operations ... as long as we possibly can," Clark said.
That means Air Park, which for years had sought to bring a grocery store to the Arnold Heights area, will soon be without one again.
"It's going to impact a lot of people in the neighborhood," said Jeff Schwebke, who's been writing a newsletter for the neighborhood association for the last 25 years. "For years and years, before this grocery store was here, we were continually told there weren't enough rooftops even though there was constant development."
What makes all of this more discouraging to Schwebke is it comes just two weeks after Lincoln Public Schools chose a parcel of land less than a mile away as the site of one of two new proposed high schools. That decision was made because of future residential growth.
"There are a lot of people here," he said.
And that was good for everyone, one IGA employee said.
"Business hasn't been bad," said Sondra Heywood, a coding manager at the store. "We weren't expecting this."
Without the IGA, the closest grocery store for Air Park residents will be the Russ's Market at 1550 S. Coddington Ave. and Super Saver at 840 Fallbrook Blvd., both more than five miles away. That creates a "food desert," a U.S. Department of Agriculture term describing a place where many residents live more than a mile from the nearest grocery store.
"I feel bad for the older people in the neighborhood," Schwebke said. "They will be impacted."
Schwebke also wonders what will become of the building.
"I'm concerned that building will sit empty for a long time," he said. "The last thing Lincoln needs is another empty building."
Meanwhile, Clark, who also owns the Crete Foodmart, is beginning to turn his attention toward finding new jobs for the 30 full- and part-time employees.
"Our employees have always worked hard and been committed to creating a store environment that was a place of community for anyone who walked in the doors," he said.
Lincoln stores that have closed or are slated to close