For more than 40 years the community of South Haven has relied on the locally owned and operated Village Market for milk, bread, soup, cereal and a whole lot more, but that all grinds to a halt in three weeks when the well known supermarket will cease operations — shutting down for good.
The community is responding with sadness on Facebook and other social media outlets after my colleagues on the WSJM News Team verified rumors early this afternoon that the last locally owned grocery store in South Haven was calling it quits after more than four decades in business there.
Corporate leaders confirmed that December 9th will be the last day of operations, and that “as many associates as possible” could be relocated to the Village Market XPress and other locations within the chain.
The closure, however, does not mean the end of the line for the indpendent Moore Family Pharmacy whose Ryan Moore dispatched recorded voice-mail messages to clientele this week saying that “You may have heard there are some changes in store for Village Market,” however, “Moore Family Pharmacy is not associated with Village Market, and I wanted to call to let you know that we will not be closing.”
The long-running supermarket is part of the Village Market chain that also has stores in Allegan, Decatur, Gobles and Colon. What is unclear at this juncture is what the loss of the market will mean to ancillary services inside the South Haven Store including the Coffee Beanery, Hungry Howies, and a full service floral shop.
The photo of Village Market is courtesy of the South Haven Area Chamber of Commerce.
