Compare Foods to close in Rock Hill

A Compare Foods store is closing in Rock Hill, our sister paper the Herald reports, as new competitors open in the crowded grocery market.

The store on Cherry Road will close by March 31, though it could shutter earlier.

Publix is opening its first Rock Hill store on March 26, in a former BI-LO on Cherry Road, as the company works to expand into the Charlotte region. The company already has two other stores in South Carolina near Charlotte, and a new store in Ballantyne as well.

And Walmart is opening more Neighborhood Markets, stores that are about the size of a large supermarket. The company wants to build several Neighborhood Markets in Rock Hill, and already has approval for one on Cherry Road.

Here are some more details from the Herald: "Store manager Angel Tejeda said the store 'wasn't doing well and the owners decided to shut it down.'
The announced closing date is March 31 but the store could close soon “if we sell out before that,” Tejeda said.
Compare Foods opened the Cherry Road store in 2007. It is the chain’s only South Carolina location. The chain has stores in five states including six locations in Charlotte.
Tejeda said the store employs about 30 people, all but five or six of them full time. It has not been determined if the employees can work at other Compare Foods stores in Charlotte, he said.

So, with the same forces of increased competition at work in Charlotte, do you think grocery stores in the city might shut down over the coming years? If so, which ones?

Update: Planet Fitness has signed a lease for 29,500 square feet of the Compare store, which the company will make into a gym. Jonathan Stewart of the Providence Group represented Planet Fitness, and Kelly High with the Berry Company represented the landlord. The opening date for Planet Fitness has not been set.