LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — After more than two decades in Louisville's Highlands neighborhood, the shelves at ValuMarket are scarce as the store prepares to close.
A liquidation sale is underway at the grocer on Bardstown Road, which is one of the last businesses still operating in the Mid City Mall.
The closure of the grocery store comes after redevelopment and demolition plans for the mall were approved in April to make way for a new $60 million open-air development into the Mid City Market. Developers gave the business until Aug. 30 to vacate the property.
A 10% liquidation sale started Wednesday to help clear out inventory at the store, which opened in 2005. But what isn't being cleared out are the memories that will remain.
"Been here so long that I know them by name," said Yulanda Lawson. "Good customers."
After working at the ValuMarket for 19 years, Lawson knows the store like the back of her hand.
"There ain't a department I haven't worked in," she said. "I about worked in just about every department in the store."
John Bizzell, who has spent more than two decades as the manager of the Highlands ValuMarket, said everything must go during the liquidation sale.
"All the fixtures will be gone, all the coolers will be gone, some of the lights will be gone, they will rip refrigeration out, it's a big process," Bizzell said Wednesday.
Vendors have already started to remove items to make way for the new development that will contain what will likely be a Publix Supermarket. But for those who have shopped at ValuMarket for years, saying goodbye is tough.
"Sometimes there have been things I have bought here that were a little more expensive than I would maybe get from a big super chain, but I have always been willing to pay the price because these are the folks that take care of me," Ray Brundige said.
It will be at least two years until a new grocery store would be built on the property. Many of those who shop at the ValuMarket take public transportation, and say the Highlands location is the most convenient place for groceries.
"I know that when we close, probably some crying is going to go on," said Bizzell.
For Lawson, the hardest goodbye will be to the customers.
"We've been good, and they've been good to us," she said. "We're going to miss this place. We are going to miss all our customers."
ValuMarket's last day is scheduled for next Friday, June 26. However with inventory already dwindling, that day might be moved up.
"You look at the empty shelves, my heart is falling," said Lawson. "We realize now that it is actually true. We are going to miss this place."
The ValuMarket locations in Iroquois Manor, Fern Creek and Mount Washington. Bizzell previously told our partners at Louisville Business First that some of the 50 employees at the Highlands location will be transferred to the other stores.
An official demolition date for the Mid City Mall has not been announced. Construction on the Mid City Market is expected to take about 15 months.
Plans feature five new buildings, including the possible Publix. The Heine Brothers Coffee and Raising Cane's locations along Bardstown Road will remain.
Plans also include more green space and increased pedestrian walkways, with a 25% reduction in parking — more than 100 spaces. The library inside Mid City Mall is expected to remain and relocate to a building on the Beechwood Avenue side of the development.
Several businesses within Mid City Mall already closed or moved. Ramen House Louisville moved to a location on Spring Street, and The Nearly New Shop closed in September. The iconic Back Door Bar closed in May 2024 after the passing of longtime owner John Dant. Baxter Avenue Theatres closed at the end of 2025, citing the uncertain future of Mid City Mall.
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