Victoria, Minn., loses its grocery store – again

Victoria is once again without a grocery store. Victoria's Market, which has struggled with slow sales and picket lines since its opening last May, began a liquidation sale on Wednesday after announcing it would close.

"Every effort has been made for the sake of our employees and our community to maintain operations despite significantly lower than anticipated sales," Will Jedlicka, general manager, said in a statement. "We have determined that the mounting expenses of keeping the store open are simply too great."

Victoria's Market, formerly Fresh Seasons Market, was built in the Carver County community in 2009. The Fresh Seasons store closed in 2014, and labor disputes soon followed. After Victoria's Market opened last year, former Fresh Seasons employees and union members with the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 653 picketed at the Victoria store for six months demanding unpaid vacation pay and pension benefits.

Linda McNulty and other residents created Shop Local, an initiative to draw shoppers to the market during picketing to bring business to the store. McNulty said Wednesday that she wasn't surprised to see the store close.

"My feeling is we probably won't see another grocery store interested until we grow our population another 1,000 people or so," she said of the city, which had a population of more than 7,300 in the 2010 census. "Not with two closings in the same building."

Victoria Mayor Tom O'Connor said he is disappointed that the store had to close. "Real cities have a post office, a city hall and a grocery store," O'Connor said. "We will energetically and aggressively pursue a new store."

For residents, the grocery store closing means returning to driving to Waconia or Chaska to get their groceries. "It is pretty much a 5-mile drive from Victoria," McNulty said. "We did it before we had a market, and now we're going to have to do it again."

Beatrice Dupuy • 952-746-3281