When Panhandle Coop of Scottsbluff, Neb., announced in late March that the Main Street Market in Wellington would close on May 18, the plan was to liquidate as much of the inventory as possible before then.
But since then, the “closing soon” signs have come down, the shelves have been restocked, the community has rallied to the cause of keeping the town’s only grocery store open, and while nothing definite had been announced as of April 23, when the North Forty News went to press, indications were good that residents would still have an in-town food shopping option.
“We’re kind of in a holding pattern right now,” Susan Wiedeman, marketing director for Panhandle, said on April 12. She added that there have been “some new developments,” but declined to provide any specifics up until press time.
After a discussion of the issue at the regular Wellington Town Board meeting on March 27, a group of citizens formed the Save Our Store Task Force to gather signatures on a petition to Panhandle to keep Main Street Market open, and gathered a reported 1,500 signatures, according to the SOS website (www.savemainstreetmarket.com).
While it looked bleak for a while, an April 10 update posted by Don Brown of the task force indicated the “effort may not have been in vain. Details will be posted as they become available.”