The Andersons retail store at the Woodville Mall in Northwood will close within three months, by the end of February 2013, the company announced Nov. 19.

“The decision to close the Woodville store was difficult,” said Dan Anderson, president of The Andersons Retail Group, in a news release. “We’ve been in this location for 24 years and have appreciated a loyal following. We will miss the opportunity to provide a convenient location to serve the customers of the east side of Toledo and surrounding suburban communities.”

Most of the Woodville Mall has been closed since December 2011 on a judge’s order, because of safety concerns due to the building’s deteriorating physical condition, but The Andersons and Sears were allowed to remain open.

The mall’s vacancy and the deteriorating physical structure were the reasons given by The Andersons for why the company decided not to renew its lease with the mall at the end of the year.

“For a variety of reasons we could not continue operations at the current location, and we cannot justify constructing or relocating a store in the immediate area,” Anderson said in the release.

Store manager Tom Keller will oversee the store’s liquidation process. The positions for the 29 full-time and 92 part-time employees will be phased out during the closure proceedings. Employees will be able to apply for positions at other stores or within the company’s other divisions. Separation pay and outplacement services also are being provided to all employees, according to the release.

“Displacing employees is difficult no matter when it happens, and we are especially sensitive to the time of the year and current unemployment rates in our state,” Anderson said in the release. “We will do all that we can to ease this transition for our exceptional workforce.”

The Andersons was founded in Maumee in 1947. The store opened in at the Woodville Mall location in September 1988. The Andersons has two retail stores in Columbus and three in the Toledo area.

For more information, visit www.andersonsinc.com.

Tags: The Andersons, Woodville Mall

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