Molter's grocery store is closing

There have been numerous questions on the status of Molter’s Fresh Market grocery store in town and whether or not the store is closing. Over the past month or so, shelves have slowly been getting emptier and emptier and the deli inside was closed for business last week permanently.

The store never brandished any permanent sign on the building, leaving the previous grocery store’s name, Mackenthun’s, on it for about six months before it was painted over and small temporary banners were placed below it.

The owner of Molter’s Fresh Market, Mark Molter, confirmed that the store is closing. He says, “We have a certain number to achieve in volume and the support wasn’t there for us to get there. There were also a lot of labor challenges there in that market.”

“There just wasn’t enough community support, people going to HyVee and Coborn’s, so the store wasn’t making enough money to stay open,” said Store Manager Jennifer Sweatt.

Molter says that starting Monday, Aug. 26, they will be implementing a store-wide 25% off discount, except for meat, produce, eggs and milk. Molter says he will continue to bring in those fresh essentials, such as milk, bread, meat and produce, while the store is open yet for residents to use.

The final target date for closing is Sept. 30, although it possibly could close sooner.

Jobs have been offered to some staff members at Molter’s other stores in Wisconsin. Molter says that those parties have not given him an answer yet if they wish to accept his offer.

The future of the store is...

....Part of this story has been withheld, as not all information is available publicly. Subscribe online to the Messenger today to not miss any more news in the future! ...

...Fred Braegelmann, owner of the building, has not returned phone calls on the status of the property so far. The Messenger has also reached out to the person who purchased the equipment in the store from Molter, but has been unsuccessful in making contact with them so far. If more information becomes available, it will be updated in later issues of the Messenger.

Molter says, “We wish it would have turned out differently, but unfortunately it didn’t.”