“I’m devastated,” Melinda Stonecipher said of Goody’s closing. “This is one of my favorite stores.”
Stonecipher walked out of Goody’s around noon Tuesday with a couple bags.
After hearing about the closing from a co-worker, she wanted to stock up on “career-type clothes.”
“And Wal-Mart doesn’t really cut it for that,” she said.
She gives the store five or six months before the local store completely closes.
“I think they’ll probably have more markdowns because it’s still not looking like it’s cheap enough,” she said. “I was expecting more.”
A county resident since 1989, Stonecipher called Goody’s one of the area’s “big ones.”
The Knoxville, Tenn.-based chain will be liquidating its stores this Friday, as the company officially announced its closing last week.
Kenny Smiley, Chamber of Commerce executive director, hoped the lost jobs can be replaced locally.
“Of course, no community likes to see something like that happen, but the economy is tough right now and I know it was corporate decision,” Smiley said.
He thinks the county had one of the more viable stores around the region.
“I do believe if any Goody’s could have survived, it could have been us,” Smiley said.
Gerald Scott, visiting from Savannah, said the Goody’s in his local area already closed.
The retired soldier would have thought the troop returns and holiday sales would have been enough of a boost to retailers.
“It’s not really a mystery because look at the economy and what’s going on right now,” he said, calling it the classic case of supply and demand. “If you don’t have the industry…jobs produce money, money produces sales…It’s a chain reaction.”
Smiley does not think the Goody’s closing will greatly affect county revenue.
“I’m going to look at it as an opportunity versus a detriment,” Smiley said. “We’re going to have more people looking at our area.”
He said the Chamber will be take proactive steps to bring in more retailers.
Stonecipher walked out of Goody’s around noon Tuesday with a couple bags.
After hearing about the closing from a co-worker, she wanted to stock up on “career-type clothes.”
“And Wal-Mart doesn’t really cut it for that,” she said.
She gives the store five or six months before the local store completely closes.
“I think they’ll probably have more markdowns because it’s still not looking like it’s cheap enough,” she said. “I was expecting more.”
A county resident since 1989, Stonecipher called Goody’s one of the area’s “big ones.”
The Knoxville, Tenn.-based chain will be liquidating its stores this Friday, as the company officially announced its closing last week.
Kenny Smiley, Chamber of Commerce executive director, hoped the lost jobs can be replaced locally.
“Of course, no community likes to see something like that happen, but the economy is tough right now and I know it was corporate decision,” Smiley said.
He thinks the county had one of the more viable stores around the region.
“I do believe if any Goody’s could have survived, it could have been us,” Smiley said.
Gerald Scott, visiting from Savannah, said the Goody’s in his local area already closed.
The retired soldier would have thought the troop returns and holiday sales would have been enough of a boost to retailers.
“It’s not really a mystery because look at the economy and what’s going on right now,” he said, calling it the classic case of supply and demand. “If you don’t have the industry…jobs produce money, money produces sales…It’s a chain reaction.”
Smiley does not think the Goody’s closing will greatly affect county revenue.
“I’m going to look at it as an opportunity versus a detriment,” Smiley said. “We’re going to have more people looking at our area.”
He said the Chamber will be take proactive steps to bring in more retailers.