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The small grocery store on Glenstone has been more than just a grocery store for many customers.
"That's what makes it fun -- the people you meet," says Bill Smillie, admiring a farewell poster that wishes him well and thanks him for his years of service to the community.
Smillie says seeing the bare shelves is a chance to remember two decades of memories as the store's owner, and the relationships with customers he's formed along the way.
"We want to know your name.
Where you live. What your kids are doing."
But his history with the store goes further back. He began working at the store in 1964 as a grocery bagger. At that time the store was called Consumers. Bill and his wife met while she was working as a cashier and he says he saved her life after her cash register caught fire.
"I jumped up and unplugged it and said, 'How about a date,' and the rest is history."
Smillie's has been a part of other families' histories as well. Steve Ridder was Smillie's butcher for 19 years and says the store will always be family.
"My wife was Bill's first hire," he says. "She worked there 16 years and both my daughters worked there."
He's recently moved on to a new job, but says Smillie's has positively impacted many lives.
"You try to think back who all worked there in the past 19 years and I couldn't even begin to name them all, but there's been really good people."
Smillie says he knew it was time to
move on, but believes Smillie's will always be here to stay.
"This store will survive whatever this store is whether it's another grocery store. The community, the neighborhood will support this location."
Bill says the closure isn't due to competition coming to town -- which includes a Walmart Neighborhood Market across the street. Instead, he says the lease was up and he didn't want to renew it.
Up until close, everything in the store is 40 percent off.
