KOAM TV 7 Joplin and PittsburgErie grocery store prepares to reopen

Erie grocery store prepares to reopen

Updated April 9, 2012:  After being closed for nearly two months, an Erie, Kansas grocery store opens its doors to volunteers as they start to restock the shelves.

Today, volunteers are cleaning out ice cream freezers and stocking shelves at what will be Stubbs Grocery store in Erie.  The workers came together after they realized it was going to take a group effort to bring back the town's grocery store.

"Some things you need in a community are a school, a grocery store and a post office and one of the main things is a grocery store and if you don't have your store it's really hard to survive," says Ashley Gray, a junior at Erie High School.

At the end of February G&W Foods closed the store it had been leasing for a year.

That's when owner Shirlene Mahurin was reminded of how essential the store was to the community.

"It's very important to have a grocery store, especially in a small town," Mahurin says.

After about two months of being closed the store owners decided to reopen it and it's something the community is excited about.

With help from the community the store's empty shelves will be stocked with the necessities.

"I love to see the store full, it's wonderful," says Mahurin.

"I just think it's necessary that we support our local stores, our local businesses, if we don't support our local businesses, we lose our town and we can't do that," says Linda Weidert, the President of the Erie Chamber of Commerce.

The store hopes to hire 8 to 10 employee's before the reopening.

Stubb's should reopen between April 20th and 25th.

Reported February 21, 2012:  After being open for one year the G&W Foods grocery store is now closed in Erie, Kansas.

G&W Foods officials tell us they made the decision to close the store last Friday due to a loss of profits.  But staff at the store wasn't told it was closed until they showed up this morning.

Company officials tell us the 15 to 18 full-time and part-time employees who worked there will be offered positions elsewhere, but officials say it is too early to tell if any of the staff will take the offer.

The building was leased by G&W foods.

CORRECTION:  We're told the company has not yet offered the positions at this time because it's too early to tell where they will be located.