The only grocery store in Maine’s easternmost city will be closing down early next month, leaving residents in a difficult position.
The Bangor Daily News reports that the R&M IGA will be shutting its doors on September 3rd, with store owner Merilyn Mills retiring and not being able to find a buyer.
“I grew up at the R&M IGA working with my father and my uncle and, like my family before me, I have spent many years running the store through good times and bad,” Mills said on Facebook. “In preparation for this day, I have had many conversations with potential buyers. Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, none of them have yet come forward to proceed with a purchase.”
While a Family Dollar location is still open in the city, the closure now means that residents will have to drive 40 minutes away to a Walmart in Calais just for fresh produce. The issues are also compounded by the closure of the city’s only pharmacy earlier this month.
Many users online have also expressed their concerns about how older residents in Eastport would manage without the store, as well as for employees who were given short notice about the closure.
“It makes you feel differently about the character of the community if there wouldn’t be a fully functional grocery store here,” Eastport City Manager Brian Schuth told the Bangor Daily News Friday morning. “It’s certainly our hope that somebody is going to continue to run it. The city will be keeping an eye on it.”
The store is not currently listed for sale.
To read the original Bangor Daily News article, click here.
