Shopko Closing Batesville Store As Company Files Bankruptcy

Thursday, January 17, 2019 at 9:46 AM

By Mike Perleberg @mikedup84

The Shopko store at Cross County Plaza will close.

(Batesville, Ind.) – Shopko is closing more than 100 stores across the U.S., including its Batesville location.

The company announced Wednesday has filed voluntary petitions for a court-supervised financial restructuring under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

Shopko is already in the process of closing 60 stores, but with this week’s announcement it added 38 more stores. Four of the closing stores are in Indiana, including the Batesville location at Cross County Plaza on State Road 229.

“This decision is a difficult, but necessary one,” said Russ Steinhorst, Shopko’s Chief Executive Officer. “In a challenging retail environment, we have had to make some very tough choices, but we are confident that by operating a smaller and more focused store footprint, we will be able to build a stronger Shopko that will better serve our customers, vendors, employees and other stakeholders through this process.”

Shopko plans to relocate more than 20 optical centers to freestanding locations, while conducting an auction process for its pharmacy business. All optical and pharmacy centers will remain open throughout the bankruptcy process, according to the company.

Green Bay, Wisconsin-based Shopko was purchased by private equity firm Sun Capital Partners for about $1.1 billion in 2005. It operates 363 stores in 24 states.