By John Brice
Correspondent
Multiple Facebook posts this past week from employees at Piggly Wiggly in Lanett reporting that the supermarket will be closing at the end of January caused an outpouring of grief and frustration among local residents.
One employee at the store remarked “I work there as a cashier and the owner said this morning that the store is losing money you know the shopping center has a new tenant that owns that shopping center and lease has went up and they just had the lights redone up under the canopy and had to fight with tenant about that and plus the power bill at the Lanett store is the same amount as the power at the Opelika location and Opelika store is double the size of the Lanett store and if they stay open they will have to buy new business license which will be anywhere from $3,000.00 to $4,000.00”.
He went on to continue “And the owner said they wasn’t going to do signs going out of business and not going to do 20 or 30 percent off they just going to start boxing things up to ship out to the other Piggly Wiggly Stores he owns”.
Ownership of the Piggly Wiggly location in Lanett belongs to Phenix City based JTM Corporation who according to the description on their official website was founded in 1966 and operate nineteen Piggly Wiggly supermarkets which serve the Columbus, Phenix City, LaGrange, Eufaula, Lanett, Thomaston, and Opelika areas.
City of Lanett Councilman for District One Tony Malone commented “We are alI concerned. After hearing the chatter about the possible closing of Piggly Wiggly, I made contact with the corporate office in Phenix City today and was told that the store wasn’t going to close, but what if it is closing, what can we do? I was told there’s a few factors that’s weighing on the side of closing the store. Some factors the city has no control of and others….. We do! I think the City could possibly help in some way on keeping Piggly Wiggly in Lanett, but we must hear from the owners of their intentions first. As a member of the Lanett City Council, if there’s anything we can do to avoid the closing, I’m pretty sure we will step up and do whatever we have to do to keep the Piggly Wiggly open in Lanett.”
He went on to continue “The Piggly Wiggly store has been in Lanett for many many many years. The store recently did some improvement by making the aisles wider, offering more brand items, the shelves are full and neat, floors clean and shining and not to mention their low prices, especially if you have the PigApp!”
Concerns over the potential of Lanett becoming what is known as a “food desert” seemed to weigh heavily upon many residents’ minds. According to a definition on the official website for the United States Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service, an area meets the standards of a food desert when it is a “low-income tract with at least 500 people, or 33 percent of the population, living more than one-half mile (urban areas) or more than 10 miles (rural areas) from the nearest supermarket, supercenter, or large grocery store.”
That same article goes on to note “Limited access to supermarkets, supercenters, grocery stores, or other sources of healthy and affordable food may make it harder for some people to eat a healthy diet in this country.”
Reflecting these concerns, one user commented “How sad for the Lanett community. Breaks my heart to see businesses like this that are the heart of a small community go out of business. I wondered why I was seeing so many open positions at that location. I guess people were forced to jump ship before it fully sank. They have some of the best deals around too. I really hate it for the Lanett residents that are completely dependent on shopping there due to lack of transportation or the ability to drive further out.”
