Ë®¹ûÅÉAV

The Auburn Save-A-Lot, located at 23-27 Seminary St. in the Seminary Commons plaza, will close on Saturday, March 21. 

Store Manager Cynthia Sanderson said Thursday that the staff learned of the closure from Save-A-Lot corporate a few days ago. She began working at the store when it opened in January 2012.

The store has 10 employees, Sanderson said, and Save-A-Lot offered them opportunities at other stores. The closest one they can transfer to is in Rome, as the store in Fulton is privately owned.

Sanderson said many of the store's customers walk there from the surrounding neighborhoods, such as the seniors who walk there in the summer from Schwartz Towers on North Street. 

"I'm going to miss a lot of our customers," Sanderson said. "We'd like to thank all of our customers through the years that we've been here for supporting us."

Based in Earth City, Missouri, Save-A-Lot has more than 1,100 stores in 33 states, making it one of the largest discount grocery chains in the country. However, the company has in Chicago, Delaware, North Carolina, Indiana and Florida as it works to reduce its debt, which was more than $820 million as of August, according to .

A media relations contact for Save-A-Lot did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The store's closure is not related to the city of Auburn's plans for a new $10 million public safety building at the neighboring address of 31 Seminary St. The building, which will provide a new home for the city's fire department and possibly some county agencies, would not have affected Save-A-Lot or other businesses in the plaza, City Manager Jeff Dygert told Ë®¹ûÅÉAV in August.

Were you a customer of the Auburn Save-A-Lot? If you'd like to share your thoughts on the store's closure, please contact Lake Life Editor David Wilcox at (315) 282-2245 or david.wilcox@lee.net.