The Salem Sparkle Market is set to shut down “by mid-March” after serving Salem residents since 1985. (Photo by Morgan Ahart)

SALEM — The Salem Sparkle Market location is set to shut down.

Salem shoppers were met with signs posted on the door at Sparkle Market this week announcing the store would be permanently closing its doors. Per a report by WFMJ News 21, Store Owner Vince Furrie has said that the store would be closing its doors for the final time “by mid-March.”

The Salem location at 423 S. Lundy Ave. has been part of the community since 1985 and the announcement has been met with shock by residents on social media. The surprise was shared by city officials, who said that they were never contacted about the closure.

“I’m pretty sad about it, I didn’t know until I read it on Facebook,” said Mayor Cyndi Baronzzi Dickey.

Dickey said that “a few years ago,” the city had been contacted by Furrie to inquire about other possible locations in the city to relocate the store as they were unhappy with the current location. Dickey said that he was referred to the Salem Opportunity Development Center and its Executive Director Julie Needs and was recommended the building at 1909 N. Ellsworth Ave., which was formerly an IGA Supermarket, followed by Crossroads Ministries, and is now home to the Brightside Project, but that location was also deemed unfit.

“I kind of thought he was happy where he was because they did remodeling [at the current location], but apparently not,” said Dickey.

Dickey said that “hopefully something else will [move] into” the current building citing concerns the closure could adversely affect residents.

“I think it’s going to be very hard on residents who live on this side of town that don’t have great ways to get around, but we don’t have a lot of control over that,” said Dickey.

Furrie told WFMJ that “some” of the Salem store’s employees would be offered new positions at other locations and attributed the closure of the Salem location and other recent closures such as the Niles location to decreased profits at Sparkle’s Western Reserve location caused by the ongoing Western Reserve Road widening project.

Multiple requests for comment from Sparkle Market were not returned by press time Friday.