By Blake Haas

LINCOLN – Two grocery stores in Central Illinois will be closing their doors.

Kroger announced on Thursday the closure of their Lincoln and Decatur stores including the fuel center in Decatur located at 1401 W. King St.

“We tried to condense it into ongoing poor financial performance. Our Executives look at all of the stores regularly to keep track of how well they do,” said Eric Halvoroson, Kroger Manager of Corporate Affairs. “This is an example of what they concluded is a situation in where the store just is not making the kind of profit that we need. The losses indicate that it’s a struggle right now to turn a profit there [Lincoln and Decatur stores]. There is nothing to indicate that would turn around. So the decision was with the lease expiring we just could not continue to operate, so when the lease expires we will cease operations [at the Lincoln and Decatur stores].”

Halvoroson added that closing the two stores was a very difficult decision.

“It’s a difficult decision to have to come to this because we appreciate the loyal shoppers, we appreciate the loyalty of the associates and we just want to stress that this is not a reflection on the associates at all. This is just a business decision and if we can’t be convinced that the profitability that we need is going to be there we have to make this decision. We appreciate everything that they have done for us over the years and it’s a difficult decision, but it’s one forced by the market right now.”

Blake Haas can be reached at [email protected].