'It's been very emotional': Dakota Family Foods closes after 20 years

After two decades in business, a beloved independent grocery store in Winnipeg’s Southeast is shutting its doors for good.

Last month, Dakota Family Foods owner Scott Clement announced the store’s closure, a decision that wasn’t made lightly.

At the time, he said it came down to a combination of factors: a lease renewal, struggles with retail theft, and a challenging business environment.

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“A lot of (customers) obviously do not want us to close the store,” Clement told CTV News in an interview Sunday. “They’re very thankful for the years that we’ve been here,” adding that people have offered to start fundraisers to keep the store running.

Aug. 11 marked the store’s unofficial last day – but Clement said he plans to keep it open Monday and Tuesday to clear out whatever’s left, at a 30 per cent discount rate.

“Customers have been coming in, actually helping us really clear our shelves,” Clement said. “They've been buying us and supporting the store and all that.”

The support from community members has been overwhelming, Clement said.

“I don’t think I’ve hugged so many people in the last three weeks,” he said. “It’s been very emotional … I’ve always said this is a community grocery store, and it’s really shown in the last few weeks.”

When it comes to what will fill the space on St. Mary’s Road, Clement said he’s not sure. But as for his future, he hopes to take some time off before diving into his next entrepreneurial endeavour.

“I have some other business interests as well, and I might have some other opportunities in the work in the wholesale business as well,” he said.

Above all, Clement wanted to express his gratitude to the customers that have come and gone from Dakota Family Foods over the past 20 years.

“I’d like to thank the community,” he said. “Though it's not the ending I wanted, we've had some great years, very successful years, financially, and again, we've hired many people in the community. We've been a great supporter of the community. So I have to thank the community for allowing us to be here and allowing us to service them.”

- With files from CTV's Daniel Halmarson.