The Albertsons store on South State Street in downtown Lake Oswego has announced that it will close later this month on Feb. 18, which will leave only one supermarket in downtown LO, Safeway, which is located on A Avenue between Fourth and Fifth streets.

Albertsons is located within the Oswego Village shopping center, a plaza that includes other stores such as Ace Hardware, Noah’s Bagels, and Pizza Schmizza. The store, which opened for operation in 1990, will leave nearly 65 employees unemployed. However, an Albertsons employee has stated that its manager is seeking new positions for these employees at other locations.

In December of 2014, Albertsons also announced that its Boones Ferry Road location will be replaced with a Haggen Food & Pharmacy store later this year which currently only exist in two Oregon cities: Tualatin and Oregon City.

When news spread of its closing, many loyal Albertsons shoppers throughout the LO community and including students at LHS have expressed their discontent over closing of this Albertsons.

“I’ve always appreciated the good service at the Albertsons [on State Street],” said LHS senior Gabby Quintana. “My family and I shop there for groceries all the time and everyone is so friendly whenever I go.”

While some people were also saddened by the fact that current Albertsons employees would soon lose their jobs, they remained optimistic that a bigger and possibly even better grocery store would take its place, chiming in some of the possibilities they would like to see for the future of this soon-to-be empty spot on State Street.

“I hope they replace it with a bigger chain grocery store like the Walmart in West Linn,” said current LO resident Barbara Cullicott.