Shopko Hometown store closing

Alexis Barker
NLJ Reporter
 
Newcastle’s Shopko Hometown store will close in mid-June despite earlier reports that the local retail business was safe after a round of closures sparked by bankruptcy filings by the Wisconsin-based retailer on Jan. 16. In the bankruptcy filing, the retail chain cited assets of less than $1 billion and liabilities between $1 billion and $10 billion. 
“Unfortunately, based on the document filed today, March 18th, in U.S. bankruptcy court, Shopko will be going into liquidation and will close all of its remaining locations by June,” a March 18 email sent to the News Letter Journal from NSA Media says. “Due to the recent announcement, we are requesting you cancel all placed/reserved media for Shopko, and destroy any inserts you may have already received.” 
NSA Media is the marketing firm responsible for creating and purchasing advertisements for Shopko in the News Letter Journal.
Newcastle’s Shopko store manager Marj Pederson confirmed the news, stating that she was “shocked” when she received notification on March 18. 
“They just announced it a few hours ago. It is a shock, we weren’t expecting this,” Pederson said. 
According to Pederson, the remaining 120 Shopko stores across the country will be closed. The first round of liquidation closed 250 stores or about 70 percent of locations, according to an article in the Green Bay Press-Gazette dated March 18. 
“This is not the outcome that we had hoped for when we started our restructuring efforts,” Shopko CEO Russ Steinhorst said in a statement. “We want to thank all of our teammates for their hard work and dedication during their time at Shopko.” 
Pederson said that human resources employees with the company will be reaching out to the 17 local team members on employment opportunities in the community. 
“They are going to try and open doors for our team members,” Pederson said.