Checking out?

WASILLA — Old Mother Hubbard and D & A Shop Rite have something in common — their cupboards are bare.

The local independent grocery store has been a fixture along the Parks Highway on the west side of the city since 1976. Now it seems the store known for its superior meat and hometown flavor — including the coloful hand-painted daily special signs in the windows — is on the verge of closing its doors for good.

The store owes the city more than $300,000 in back sales tax collections going back to 2008, and until recently had been taking sales tax revenues to city hall daily, said Troy Tankersley, finance director for Wasilla.

The store has been trying to run as lean as possible for awhile, said manager Dwight Rice. Over the past eight weeks or so, Shop Rite’s financial struggles have become apparent to longtime customers. Its shelves are nearly bare, as are the freezer cases, while the meat and produce departments appear to still be stocked with fresh product.

Attempts to reach store owner Frank Mazone were unsuccessful, but Rice said Mazone has been doing everything he can to keep the doors open and employees working.

“He’s trying to do the best he can,” Rice said.

Although the store’s employees don’t know if or when the final curtain will fall on the 34-year-old grocery store, morale is OK, Rice said.

“It’s actually been not bad,” he said. “It’s more (of a focus) for checkers, because pretty much every customer who comes through the checkstand asks about (the store), and they have to answer the questions.”

About eight weeks ago as the shelves began to thin out, there were several handwritten signs posted in the store saying Shop Rite was not closing. Those signs are gone now.

Should the independent grocery store close, it would be a sad day for the city, said Lynn Carden, executive director for the Greater Wasilla Chamber of Commerce.

“It brings historical value to the table,” she said. “It helped shape our economic growth and development.”

There are only two full-time employees now and others have been cut back from full-time to about 35 hours a week, Rice said, but with the exception of a couple positions not filled through attrition, Shop Rite is trying to keep its employees working.

“And that’s very impressive,” Carden said. “Even if you know a little of what has happened in that store’s situation, that loyalty to its business family is healthy and strong in our community. It shows you’re not just a name, not just a paycheck.”

The possible eminent closing of Shop Rite is “heartbreaking” for Greg Pearson, owner of Cubby’s Marketplace in Talkeetna and a former longtime manager at Shop Rite.

As Wasilla has grown, the increasing competition for food dollars has played a large part in putting the squeeze on independents like Shop Rite, he said. In addition to Carrs, Fred Meyer and Wal-Mart, the increase in restaurants and fast food is also felt.

“The food market in the Wasilla area is saturated,” Pearson said. “It really is. That’s where (Mazone) was having more and more problems.

“It is extremely sad. I know he’s done the best he could to keep things rolling. … It’s one of those things that happens. It’s pretty heartbreaking, I know that.”

Should Shop Rite close, it would also leave a hole in the business community, Carden said. In addition to employing local residents, Shop Rite has a long history of community involvement, she said.

“They are a business, but what it means to the community is more,” Carden said, adding she’s a longtime customer there herself. “Keeping their doors open 365 days a year and knowing you can go and get butter and vanilla to make grandma’s cookies, that’s what I’ll miss.”

The shelves may be bare, but Shop Rite is still open and eager to do business with the Wasilla community, Rice said. The quality of its famous meat is still top-notch.

Aside from not wanting to see any Wasilla business close, the chamber director said the situation saddens her because Shop Rite is “my go-to place.”

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.