Portland Marsh to close

Portland’s Marsh supermarket will close next month.

Store employees and local officials confirmed Thursday afternoon that the store will close. Its last day will be May 14.

“It’s very disappointing,” said Portland Mayor Randy Geesaman. “They’ve been a great community partner for a long time. We like the fact that we have more than one choice in our community.”

Marsh corporate representatives could not be reached for comment.

Indianapolis TV station WTHR reported that six other stores were also put on the chopping block Thursday. Those include one each in Union City, Ohio, Logansport and Frankfort, and three in Indianapolis. WTHR said Marsh attributes the closings to “sustained weak performance.”

Earlier this week, the company announced the closure of three other stores — two in the Indianapolis area and one in Cincinnati. The closure of a Marsh location in Richmond was announced last month.

“This is the kind of thing that there’s not much the community could have done about,” said Bill Bradley, executive director of Jay County Development Corporation. “Unfortunately, I think it’s an internal situation with Marsh Supermarkets at this point. They are closing stores. They’ve been actively seeking capital investment firms … or other grocery store chains to buy their other stores.

“I think we’re also feeling the retraction that’s happening not only in the grocery business, but the general retail business. Retail as a whole is struggling, both at a national level and the regional level as well.”

In a story published April 15, Indianapolis Business Journal reported that Marsh has refused to pay rent at its “most-endangered” locations. In turn, property owners have sought eviction orders.

The building that houses the Portland store is owned by Iprop Portland LLC, which is based in Chicago. Tenants in adjacent spaces, also owned by Iprop, include Dollar General, El Camino Real and Closet Update.

Bradley noted that the main negative impact of the closure for Portland will be that it eliminates competition, leaving the city with only one major grocery store — Wal-Mart. But he added that he believes there is opportunity to attract a new tenant to the Marsh site.

Local officials are working toward that goal, Geesaman said.

“I think there is potential at this point,” said Bradley. “We’ve got to be very strategic at what we look at. I think there’s possibilities. I really do.

“The challenge I think we have is it’s a relatively small market.”

The store also houses a branch of First Merchants Bank. Portland branch manager Evelyn Arnold said this afternoon that the future of the location is unclear.

Marsh, owned since 2006 by Sun Capital Partners of Florida, opened its first store in 1931 in Muncie. It has about 70 locations in Indiana and Ohio.

Portland’s first Marsh store, which opened in the 1940s, was located on Main Street in a building that is now home to One Shot Sports.

It relocated to Meridian Street on the north side of the city in the 1960s in a building that now houses The Rock church, and then shifted to its current location in the 1990s.