NEWS PHOTO COLLIN GALLANT The Bargain Shop, located on the 400 Block of Third Street downtown, is advertising a "store closing sale" this week.
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
Another substantial storefront in downtown Medicine Hat is facing an uncertain future.
Signs advertising a close-out sale for the Bargain Shop, located at 450 Third St. SE went up after Christmas. This week the company told the News the outlet will close at the end of the month.
“We were unable to reach an agreement on the renewal of our lease, so we’ll be closing at the end of January,” said Jill Jennings, the vice-president of Ontario-based Red Apple Stores, Inc.
“We like the community, and had operated there for a long time, but this can’t be helped.”
There are currently no plans to find an alternate location in Medicine Hat, Jennings said, who stated 10 employees work at the location.
The building, which once also housed Parker’s Countrywide Furniture and Woolworths before that, has been subject to a new development proposal since late-2018.
It was sold by a court-appointed receiver earlier that year to a Lethbridge-based developer who has marketed the property as a potential upscale retail, office or activity space. A portion of the parkade level reopened as a liquor store summer. The city sold an adjoining parking lot to the company in late 2018.
Local real estate agents handling the marketing of nearly 70,000 square feet on three levels at the location were unavailable on Thursday.
