Ramifications expected from IGA closing

By John W. Goodwin Jr.

The mayor said the picketing at the store has been unfair.

HUBBARD — Mayor Arthur Magee and the family who owns the plaza where Nemenz IGA once stood say the closing of the grocery store will have serious ramifications on the community.

Magee and Donn McConnell, plaza owner, said the store’s closing will affect many.

“It’s a devastating ripple effect on that whole side of town and frankly, we don’t see any positives in this,” McConnell said.

Magee said several college students were supplementing their incomes and partially paying tuition by working at the store.

“If you take the actual store, the dollar store next door and all the empty shops that were going to be filled, we lost 20-something jobs. That is a lot of jobs in a small town like this,” he said.

The IGA store had been a presence on West Liberty Street for more than 16 months before closing earlier this week. The store opened under Nemenz’s ownership in May 2007, and the protests began in September 2007.

The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 880 has said the protest was for a number of reasons, including the new owner’s failure to hire former union employees.

Henry Nemenz, store owner, said the protesters ultimately led to the store’s closing.

According to Magee, the issue is about more than just dollars and cents. He said the store owners were involved in many community efforts and activities.

Union members from Local 880 as of Friday afternoon were still holding signs and walking in front of the empty store, thanking the community for support.

Magee said the picketing at the store has been unfair.

“For the law to allow these tactics is just not right. It’s like Gestapo, strong-arm tactics,” he said. “We had two of the best grocers in the area and now one is gone.”

According to McConnell, whose family 28 years ago built the plaza, another issue will be the empty section of the plaza that housed the grocery store.

“We are searching for any alternatives that may be feasible and we are not limiting our search to any one type of business,” he said. “There have been a lot of people who have expressed interest, but decided, with the year of picketing, that they didn’t want to get involved with that.”

Local 880’s Cleveland office was contacted by phone and e-mail Friday, but no response was offered to submitted questions.

jgoodwin@vindy.com