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Alpena Peebles to close

News Photo by Julie Riddle Shoppers take advantage of the discounted prices at the Peebles closing sale.

ALPENA — The Alpena Peebles store is closing … slowly.

Signs went up last week alerting shoppers that Peebles will be closing its doors, one of many in the chain that are being shut down by its parent company.

Clearance markdowns are posted around the store, advertising that everything must go.

There’s no need to rush, though. The store won’t close for good until January, according to store manager Shelly Andrulis.

The corporate office is trying something new by running an “extended closing,” Andrulis said, lengthening the shutdown period longer than the traditional few weeks.

Peebles has been a presence in Alpena for about a decade, and shoppers have gotten used to the store being there. The store has been busy since the clearance signs were posted, Andrulis said. Customers are concerned about losing their favorite shopping stop.

“People come in, ‘Where am I going to shop? What am I going to do?’ and it’s like, don’t worry about it, you have til January,” Andrulis laughed.

The store will still continue to receive shipments of new items until the weeks before the final closing at the beginning of next year.

“It’s confusing me a little bit here and there, what to do and when to do it,” Andrulis said, shaking her head at the slow-moving closing process.

Some of the Peebles stores being closed are being converted into Gordman’s stores, and, for a while there was talk of Alpena’s store being on that list. That’s not looking promising, according to Andrulis. As far as she knows, there is no plan for the store space.

The store’s nine employees will be looking for new work come the beginning of next year.

“It’s sad,” Andrulis said, several times. “We were just starting to get it the way we want it.”

Julie Riddle can be reached at 989-358-5693 or jriddle@thealpenanews.com.

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