Laurel Grocery Company, a London, Kentucky, U.S.A.-based grocery wholesaler, has shut down its operations.
“Challenging market conditions, due in part to the rise of big box discounters and growing competition by e-commerce, have presented serious challenges to our business model. After exploring a number of options to improve our position, we have made the difficult decision to close wholesale grocery operations and lay off a portion of our workforce,” Laurel Grocery said in a Facebook post. “We recognize and deeply value the tremendous contributions these employees have made to Laurel Grocery over time, and we are deeply sorry for any hardship this decision may cause to them and the communities in which they live.”
The company, which has been in business for more than 100 years, supplied meat, seafood, produce, and other items to independent and family-owned grocery stores, including Independent Grocers Alliance (IGA) stores, throughout the U.S. Midwest and Southeast regions.
“I don’t understand it, but there is so much competition out there right now,” Leonard Fitch, the owner of an IGA-backed grocery store in Jessamine County, Kentucky, told Lex 18. “It is going to hurt us a lot. Right now, we don’t have a milk supplier, and that’s definitely a big item in a grocery store. There are some unknowns, but we’re going to fight as long as we can.”
The Laurel County Fiscal Court confirmed to WKYT that the Laurel Grocery Company shut down.
“As a thriving business with over 100 years of history in our county, its closure has had a profound effect on the community, resulting in numerous job losses,” Laurel County Sheriff John Root wrote in a social media post, per WDKY Lexington. “Let us pray for the employees that they may either enjoy a peaceful retirement or quickly find new employment opportunities to support themselves and their families.”
The Laurel Grocery shutdown follows numerous other moments of upheaval that the U.S. grocery industry has endured this year as it has dealt with high costs and economic uncertainty. Major grocery chains, including Walmart, Albertsons, Kroger, and Amazon, announced layoffs earlier this year.
“Our strategy … includes finding new sources of productivity to enable us to invest in growth,” Albertsons said in February. “After many years of productivity efforts across several parts of our company, we recently turned our attention to our general and administrative expenses and made the difficult decision to reduce the size of our corporate and division support workforce.”
