Store closure sparks emotion

“I personally felt like running out the doors, this is not easy for any of us,” said store manager Darlene Murphy. “We can’t even make eye contact with each other a lot of the time because we know we’re going to break but the reason why we are sticking with this is because of our respect for the head office.”

Describing the situation as sad, Murphy heard about the store closure April 14.

The store started out as a 99-cent store, changing to the Ideal Discount Dollar Store almost three years ago.

Over time items added to the inventory included furniture and clothing. Murphy said those items sold well for the first few days.

With a staff of three, Murphy said they were in the process of hiring a fourth at the time of the announcement.

“We had loyal great customers, we had a nice store, great customer services, there’s nothing we did wrong,” she commented.

She noted the town has three dollar stores.

The amount of customers showing up for the 50 per cent sale has blown Murphy away.

Everything in the store is 50 per cent off excluding pop, chips and greeting cards.

“If we would have had that support prior to the closing, we wouldn’t be closing,” she stated.

A family bond exists between the employees, who decided this is where they would stay until they retired, or until the store closed.

“We’re going to take it easy and mourn the loss of this job,” commented Murphy before looking for another job.

With a rumour around town that another business may close its doors, Murphy stresses to “support your town.”

“We don’t want to see another empty building,; the three of us fortunately that work here, we’re okay we’re not going to go hungry but its sad.”

She noted the company was a fantastic company to work for and she does not blame them for the closure.

Murphy does not know when the official date of closure would be.