The Shopko store at 1305 141st St. in Perry closed June 16, 2019, but a new owner and occupant might be on the horizon, according to hints dropped by city leaders at the May 4 Perry City Council meeting.
The roughly 35,000-square-foot building was built in 1998 and operated by Pamida Inc. until bankruptcy closed its doors. The 2020 assessed value of the property is $1.7 million, according to Dallas County records.
Perry officials made no official comments, but they spoke of the sale of the property as an open secret and nearly a done deal.
Perry would be lucky if its fate were similar to Jefferson’s, where the the 20,000-square-foot former location of its Shopko Hometown at 403 W. Head St. was recently bought and occupied by the former Don’s Hardware, which relocated from its 6,000-square-foot location at 123 N. Chestnut St. on the square in Jefferson to the larger Head Street commercial space and renamed itself Jefferson Ace Hardware.
The Jefferson City Council facilitated the move by approving an economic development agreement in November 2018 with Andy Harland, owner of Don’s Ace Hardware and doing business as Sky Blue Properties LLC. The city loaned the business owner $75,000, forgivable over 10 years.
Harland is the third generation in the family of hardware store owners. Ron Harland, Andy’s father, owns the Ace Hardware stores in Perry and Boone.
Another Perry discount retailer, ALCO Stores Inc., closed in 2014 after corporate bankruptcy. Perry’s Orscheln Farm and Home acquired and occupied the property in April 2016.
