After 49 years in Columbia, Fred’s will be closing its doors by the end of May.
The Memphis-based company announced Thursday that it was shutting down 159 of its 557 stores, nearly 30 percent of its total.
Shoppers at the location on Mississippi 13 expressed surprise at the news.
“I come here every day,” Pebbles Cooper of Columbia said. “I get all my household items for a really good price.”
Ricky and Regina Stephens of Goss said they’d been shopping there for decades, back to when Harold Stringer was the pharmacist. They said they hate the news but pointed to competition from Dollar General, which has opened stores in small communities like Goss, Sandy Hook and Kokomo.
“They’re hurting everybody,” Ricky Stephens said.
“I love it there because I don’t have to come all the way to town to buy a loaf of bread,” Regina Stephens said of Dollar General.
The store manager at Fred’s declined comment Thursday.
Fred’s Dollar Store, as it was then known, opened in Columbia in 1970 in the former Rebel Theatre building on Broad Street. It moved in 1989 to its current location in the Northgate Shopping Center.
Fred’s had already removed the pharmacies out of 179 stores – including Columbia – last year after selling out some of its pharmacies to Walgreens. The company said in its news release that it’s continuing to try to sell its remaining pharmacies.
The Columbia store is one of 31 in Mississippi being closed. Others include Aberdeen, Brookhaven, Byram, Cleveland, Coldwater, Columbus (two stores closing), Florence, Forest, Gautier, Greenville (two), Greenwood, Hattiesburg, Holly Springs, Horn Lake, Jackson (two), Leland, Magee, Meridian, Ocean Springs, Pascagoula, Pearl, Philadelphia, Terry, Tupelo (two), West Point and Yazoo City.
“Fred’s decision to close underperforming stores follows a comprehensive evaluation of the company’s store portfolio, including historical and recent store performance and the timing of lease expirations, among other factors,” the company said in a news release.
Fred’s stock has taken a beating over the past couple of years, along with many retailers struggling to adapt to online competition. Shares peaked at $20.20 in December 2016 and are now trading at about $2.
Pictured Above: The Fred’s Store on Mississippi 13 is seen Thursday. The chain announced it was closing the location by the end of May along with 158 others. | Photo by Charlie Smith
