Customers face a difficult goodbye to Save A Lot

Save A Lot on the edge of downtown Davenport isn’t just a store but it’s the store. 

The store will open for the last time Saturday, March 24 at 8 a.m. and lock the doors for a final time Saturday night at 8 p.m.

The property has already been sold, a salesperson with Moline-based company Total Cluster Fudge says the business bought the sight and will close April 6. 

Even with the new, those who have relied on this old are expressing their sorrow seeing it go.

While the trip for bread, milk and eggs is a frequent one for many people, it’s more than a chore for customers at Save A Lot.

The store has come to mean a lot more than just a place to shop for food.

Customer Kevin Cross said, “I grew up with it. It’s like having a family member.”

That’s why customers of Save a Lot on West Fourth Street in Davenport say losing this store hurts a lot.

For Kevin Cross, like many, he’s a regular relying on its prices and convenience.

Cross said, “It was a neighborhood store, and we need more of that. It’s going to be wild; it’s going to be difficult for a lot of people, like my mom.”

With his mother lives right across the street, Cross said it hard saying goodbye to knowing all the food you need is only a few steps away. 

“My mom has diabetes, and it’s very convenient, she can just step right across the street,” said Cross. “Send my nephew across. She can watch him.”

As the check out prepares to ring up its last purchase, customer Monica Martinez know’s how he feels.

She said this store is the only place really close to her home for a shopping run. 

Monica Martinez said, “Disappointing cause when I need something quick, I’m able to come here and now that it’s going to be harder to have to go somewhere else.”

A trip elsewhere that’s harder because it’s a store she’s been coming to for decades, filled with memories of childhood.

“I remember when Save a Lot used to be Conklin’s, very long, long time ago,” said Martinez.

With this latest departure from the neighborhood, Cross said he couldn’t help but feel like this place he calls home is being forgotten.

“You have nothing,” Cross said. “If you look around, we have a lot of empty buildings but nothing else.”

For him, it’s more than just the groceries that will be lost; it’s a community. 

Cross said, “Come in here, you always got somebody smiling. They’re always laughing. The employees make you feel comfortable, and that’s what’s needed. We need that. That’s what keeps little bit we got down here together.”

Employees he said have gone above and beyond. 

“They’ve been there. They’re a lot of them guys in there; there’s a couple of employees that when my mom’s water pipe busted, and we didn’t have water, they let me come over there to use their water to make sure she had fresh water. Just little community things. The love and it’s just going to be weird not, not having it.”

That has Cross hoping the new owners of the site will continue to serve an essential role in the community. 

The Save A Lot store will be consolidating staff with the other Davenport location.