I came home today and read this story on a local news website. The store that is closing is a series of locally owned and operated home improvement and building supply stores that have been in business for at least 40 years. The buying power of Lowe's and Home Depot is too great for them to compete.
What will we do when they are all gone, and we no longer have any choices? I guess that's why we call them the "Borg"! Thanks for reading,,,,
"(Rochester, NY) 10/04/05 - Wegmans announced Tuesday it will close all of its Chase-Pitkin Home and Garden Stores. The move impacts 2100 jobs. Some of the 2100 employees will be offered jobs at Wegman's, others will get severance pay.
Ruth Kowacich chooses Chase-Pitkin over other, larger hardware stores, because she said, she wants the best deal. Many shoppers were surprised to learn all 14 Chase-Pitkin stores, 10 of them in Rochester, will close sometime after 2005.
Shopper Linda Dunn said, “I'm actually shocked.”
Shopper Ray Dunn added “ninety-five percent of the time I'd say it’s cheaper if not the same."
That's part of the problem. Ten years ago competitors like Lowes and Home Depot operated a quarter of a million square feet of retail space in the Rochester market. Now it’s six times as much: 1.5 million square feet.
Chase-Pitkin President Bill Strassburg said, "Part of the issue is, we have to be priced right…our competitors are hundreds of times our size and they can buy things at lower prices."
Wegmans' spokeswoman Joe Natale said that in the short term, it was a very difficult decision for the company -- and the people.
Unlike many service jobs, many of Chase-Pitkin's full and part time employees receive health and other benefits. The jobs are valuable to Monroe County and difficult to replace."