Photo: Jessica Selby
Jerry’s is likely to be closed by the end of the month.

By Jessica Selby
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

COVENTRY — After more than 30 years in business in Coventry, Jerry’s Supermarket is closing its doors for good.

According to Cliff McCullough, vice president of operations for Jerry’s Supermarkets, the local grocer has been affected by the economy and can no longer afford to stay in business. He said the road construction associated with the installation of the sewer lines in that area has played a serious roll in the failure of the business.

“The thing that hurt us the most was that construction,” he said. “It lasted close to a year out in front of the store and business really began to deteriorate. Then when the road opened back up business didn’t come back.”
The store manager estimated that the store would be closed by the end of the month, but McCullough said no definite date has been officially determined.

“We are discounting products now and we re not purchasing any new items,” he said. “We just plan on selling out what we have. We went to 25 percent off of everything this week and we have had quite a few customers in here.”
McCullough said none of the other Jerry’s supermarkets would be affected by this individual store closure and he is actually trying to transition “as many as possible” of the Coventry’s store’s employees into other stores owned by the grocer. McCullough said there are approximately 25 employees employed at the Coventry store.

McCullough said Jerry’s Supermarket has no agreements with any other grocers as far as a buyout goes. He said the store located in Coventry Shopper’s Park is rented space and he does not have any knowledge of whether the landlord of the building has any plans on renting the space to another grocer.

He said the discounted prices on items in the store will remain until the majority of the items are sold from the shelves. The Coventry Jerry’s supermarket is located at 23 Shopper’s Park, off Main Street.