Dillons Leaving Springfield
(Date: 11/4/14). Well, I have some very sad news to report. Dillons announced today in a news release that they would be exiting the Springfield market as of January, 2015. The 4 stores in Springfield are at 1707 W. Battlefield Road, 1831 W. Kearney St., 2843 E. Sunshine St. and 1260 St. Louis St. Beginning Tuesday, those four stores are now open from 6am-9pm daily and the pharmacies have already closed, effective immediately. Employees at each store were apparently told the news at 8am this morning.
“The decision to exit Springfield is a regrettable, but necessary step following the regular assessment of our supermarket operations,” said Dillons’ spokesperson Sheila Lowrie.
Pharmacy transfer information:
Dillons Pharmacy customers will find their prescriptions transferred to the following Walgreens, effective immediately.
- Dillons Pharmacy on Battlefield transfers to Walgreens #3688, 2951 S. Campbell Ave.
- Dillons Pharmacy on Kearney to Walgreens #5288, 1525 W. Kearney St.
- Dillons Pharmacy on E. St. Louis to Walgreens #5287, 1155 St. Louis St
- Dillons Pharmacy on E. Sunshine to Walgreens #3690; 2640 E. Sunshine St.
Springfield-based Price Cutter Supermarkets agreed to buy Dillon Stores real estate and equipment after January 2015, according to a Dillon’s news release. Additional terms of the agreement are not public.
Price Cutter which is headquartered in the Springfield area, is a local, employee-owned company which operates 48 stores in Missouri, Kansas & Oklahoma.
Dillons, headquartered in Hutchinson, KS, is a division of The Kroger Company, one of the nation’s largest retail grocery chains. Dillons operates 86 stores in Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska. They employ more than 12,000 associates.
Sources and for more details: News-Leader & KY3.
A big thanks to Jonathan for sharing!
On a personal note: I just cannot help but feel absolutely heartbroken for the Dillons employees in Springfield as well as all the customers loyal to Dillons over the years. My heart goes out to you and having lost our Dillons here in Joplin, I feel your pain. I have also had my job yanked out from under me with no notice & all I can say that it is an absolutely gut-wrenching and traumatic experience. I have read all the comments on Dillons Facebook page and I have to say I am really disappointed at how all this is being handled by the Kroger conglomerate. I realize a lot of things go in play when making such a drastic decision, but the way they are closing the stores and to regurgitate the same copy & paste response to all of the comments just comes off as extremely callous. Welcome to corporate America, I guess. It reminds me of when the Joplin Dillons was wiped out by the Joplin Tornado back in 2011. They pledged to rebuild here in Joplin for a long time and now they just say “no plans at this time” the countless times I have asked. Simply sad. Just my two cents, for whatever it’s worth.
Please feel free to comment and share your own thoughts.
