Save-U-More closes doors

MAT-SU -- Save-U-More, located off of the Parks Highway, closed its doors Sunday after doing business in the Valley for 14 years. The company lost its lease earlier this month after Builders Bargains, a local Palmer-based company, bought the building. Save-U-More's district manager Randy Keller said there is little chance of Save-U-More opening elsewhere in the Valley.

"It's a tough call, I'm going to have to do some looking around," Keller said. "To be honest, right now I am not planning on re-opening; it has to be the right price at the right place."

At one time Save-U-More had seven stores in Alaska and Canada, with the Wasilla closure it is now down to two, in Homer and Kenai. Keller said his main concern since he found out about the store's closure has been to help find jobs for the seven employees that worked at the Wasilla store.

"They're such a good crew," Keller said. "I asked them [if they wanted to relocate], but no one wanted to go down to the Peninsula."

The Builders Bargains expansion has brought a few more job openings to the Valley, and marketing director Ashley Bailey said the company has already approached the recently unemployed workers about applying at their company.

"We've opened the doors to interviews," Bailey said. "We've already received a number of applications [from Save-U-More employees]."

Builders Bargains is planning on opening the new store sometime in March. The store's Palmer location will remain as a distribution center and administrative office. The new store will offer more products, Bailey said. Until the move, the store is holding a moving sale at the Palmer site. A grand opening celebration is scheduled for May.