The Ukrop's grocery store in Spotsylvania County will close at the end of the business day Jan. 30, said store general manager Rodney Person.

That's a Saturday, and the store has always been closed on Sundays. Person declined to comment on whether there will be specific sales or promotions to mark the final days or weeks.

The local Ukrop's store at 4250 Plank Road opened in 1997. Last month the Richmond-based company announced that the store would close sometime in the first three months of 2010.

That announcement followed news that Giant-Carlisle, a division of Ahold USA, was buying Ukrop's Super Markets for $140 million.

Giant decided not to buy the Ukrop's store in Spotsylvania as well as one in Richmond. Giant already has stores close to the Ukrop's location on State Route 3 in Spotsylvania.

The First Market Bank inside the local Ukrop's store has said it will close March 22.

Ukrop's has a lease that runs into 2017 at the local store. New York-based real estate investment trust Cedar Shopping Centers Inc. owns the building.

Local real estate investors say the closing of the Ukrop's will hurt the smaller businesses that operate in that shopping center and also say it could prove challenging to get another tenant into the 63,000-square-foot space.

Bill Freehling: 540/374-5405
Email: bfreehling@freelancestar.com