Customers, employees lament Lucky’s closures 

BOULDER and LONGMONT — Shopping carts were full, but spirits were deflated Wednesday afternoon at the Lucky’s Market location in south Boulder.

In about three weeks, the grocery store — along with 31 other Lucky’s locations across the country — will close up shop.

“We are sad to say the rumors are true,” Lucky’s tweeted Wednesday. “We’re closing many of our stores and couldn’t be more upset to be leaving so many communities who have supported us for years. What we built with you, our loyal customers, was not in vain.”

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Employees found out about the closures at an all-hands meeting held at each of the 32 closing stores at 7 a.m. Tuesday morning. The closure announcement, which trickled out through news reports and social-media posts Tuesday morning and afternoon, came as an unwelcome revelation to shoppers and workers alike. 

“Store closing sale?” Kerry Minton, reading a sign in front of the Boulder grocery store advertising a 25 percent discount on all Lucky’s items. “I didn’t see the newspaper or anything this morning, so I had no idea Lucky’s was closing. That’s a real shame — you can’t get produce or meat this good anywhere else in this neighborhood.”

The mood was similar among shoppers at the Longmont Lucky’s location, which will join the Boulder and Wheat Ridge stores in closing Feb. 12. 

“This place is right on my way home from work,” Mark Dudas said. “It’s super convenient — I’m not sure where I’ll shop when they close. Safeway [which is nearby on Ken Pratt Boulevard], I guess. But it’s just not the same.” 

News of the closures broke roughly a month after grocery giant Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) announced that it would sell its investment stake in Lucky’s, which was founded by chefs Bo and Trish Sharon.

“We’re all pretty depressed — I know I am,” Jeanne Papish, who has worked in the Apothocary department at the Longmont Lucky’s store for more than two years, told BizWest.

Kroger, the Cincinnati-based parent of King Soopers and City Market stores in Colorado, invested an undisclosed sum in Lucky’s to form a “strategic partnership” with the local chain in 2016.

When Kroger announced its divestiture, red flags went up for employees and grocery-industry analysts. 

Papish said managers began reducing hours for workers soon after the Kroger announcement was made.

“The writing was on the wall,” she said, “At the Apothecary [department, which sells natural and herbal health and nutrition products], our hours had been cut drastically.”

Neil Stern, a retail industry analyst and senior partner at Chicago-based consulting firm McMillanDoolittle LLP, told BizWest that he anticipated some level of downsizing at Lucky’s after Kroger announced it would pull funding back. Still, he was surprised by the magnitude of the planned closures.

“The reasons [Kroger] wanted to get into the industry remain — the natural and organic space is growing faster than the traditional grocery space,” Stern said. “The [Lucky’s] stores weren’t simply performing economically, clearly.”

Papish said she and other Lucky’s employees are getting a jumpstart on the job hunt. She plans to apply at other natural-products retailers in the area. 

“It’s a tough situation, but we’re all going to keep doing our best and moving along,” she said.