15 January 2015 (10:16 UTC-07 Tango)/24 Rab al’Awwal 1436/25 Dey 1393/25 Yi-Chou 4712

Wisconsin based Shopko boasted about the opening of its new Salmon (Idaho) store, and about giving away $1.1-million USD to charities, but isn’t saying a word about reports of their planned shutdown of at least 14 stores across the United States.

The Salmon store is actually a new down sized version of Shopko called Shopko Hometown.  Apparently this is the type of store Shopko administrators have been switching to as they shutdown their bigger operations, blaming the bad economy.

Administrators have also begun a new marketing policy called JustEnough, intended to “reduce marketing costs”.

1st Quarter 2015 shutdowns (revealed so far):

In Kentucky, the Hodgenville Shopko Hometown store will shutdown in April.

In Missouri, the Tarkio Shopko Hometown store will shutdown in April.

In Ohio, Shopko to shutdown its Greenfield, Archbold, Montpelier and Newton Falls stores by April, at least 70 jobs will be affected.

In South Dakota, the Avera FastCare health clinic located inside the Aberdeen Shopko shutdown.  Local news reports said there are currently no plans to replace it.

In Utah, employees spreading the word that the Provo Shopko will shutdown by 15 April 2015.  Also, reports that the Bountiful (apparently actually located in West Bountiful even though the address is in Bountiful?) Shopko will shutdown in April.

In Wisconsin, Shopko will shutdown its Ashland Hometown store by April,  at least 29 jobs lost.

Also of importance, a major retail landlord just modified its lease agreement with Shopko.  The deal makes it easier for Spirit Realty Capital to evict Shopko in favor of new tenants (Shopko also got paid $18.8-million for the inconvenience of being kicked out).  The retail landlord said it wanted to reduce its reliance on Shopko for revenue!  

Related: Shopko backtracks on new Hometown store in Indiana as tax deal halted

Shopko kicks back $500 for Christian run volleyball in Iowa

2014 shutdowns (that I’ve found so far):

In Wisconsin, ShopKo killed off 40 jobs at its Ashwaubenon corporate HQ. Company administrators blame the bad economy for their “reorganization”.  A Madison store was shutdown, 66 jobs lost.

In Ohio, Shopko shutdown their store in Georgetown.

In Indiana, Shopko issued a WARN in November saying it will shutdown a distribution center.  The shutdown will be completed by September 2015, at least 95 jobs lost.   A Loogootee Shopko was shutdown, at least 14 jobs lost.  The Petersburg and Bloomfield Shopkos were also shutdown.

It should be noted that Shopko has been quietly and slowly shutting down stores since 2001.