Ark Valley News - Valley Center Leeker's is closing

Valley Center Leeker's is closing
By The News staff
Last Updated: March 08, 2018

Leeker's Family Foods in Valley Center is closing.

Owner Chris Steindler announced today that the store will shut its doors for good in mid to late April.

"It is with great sadness and disappointment that I announce that Leeker's Family Foods in Valley Center will be closing," Steindler said in a written statement.

Steindler said the company has tried to renegotiate the terms of its lease of the building at 801 S. Meridian to make it more affordable, but has been unsuccessful.

Leeker's has been in Valley Center since 1968. It moved to South Meridian almost 18 years ago.

Leeker's in Park City will continue to operate. Steindler said the company is negotiating with Valley Drug to merge the pharmacy with the pharmacy in the Park City Leeker's.

The following is a letter from Chris and Sierra Steindler:

Open letter to our friends and customers of Leeker's Family Foods

It is with great sadness and disappointment that I announce that Leeker's Family Foods in Valley Center will be closing. We have been part of the Valley Center community since March of 1968, and quite frankly can't imagine life any other way. We have tried for the better part of a decade to negotiate a lease amendment with our landlord that would be more in line with the retail environment of today. When we signed our lease for the new store seventeen and a half years ago, the retail makeup of the community was vastly different than it is today. What made sense then, does not make sense now. Unfortunately, the lease we signed leaves the power to negotiate in the hands of the landlord and they simply refuse to negotiate anything. After exhausting all possibilities, we have come to the clear conclusion that we cannot continue any longer with the lease. We will continue business as normal while reducing our inventory for the coming weeks with a planned final day in mid to late April.

We are in negotiations with Valley Drug to merge their pharmacy with ours in our Park City store so that we can seamlessly provide our customers access to the prescriptions they need every day. Our Park City store is slated to undergo a remodel in mid-March to make its aisles more customer-friendly and therefore enhance the shopping experience. Our hope is that all of our great customers from Valley Center will join us in Park City for the years to come.

With sincere thanks,
Chris and Sierra Steindler