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CV’s Family Foods In Fayetteville Closing

FAYETTEVILLE (KFSM) — CV’s Family Foods on College Avenue is slated to close in the next two months, with store officials citing increased competiti...
CV’s Family Foods

FAYETTEVILLE (KFSM) — CV’s Family Foods on College Avenue is slated to close in the next two months, with store officials citing increased competition from a nearby Walmart Neighborhood Market, according to the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce.

The 30,000-square-foot store at 380 N. College Ave. employs about 40 full- and part-time workers, said Chung Tan, director of economic development at the chamber. Inventory has been marked down and CV’s plans to stay open until groceries are exhausted.

In May 2016, Walmart opened a Neighborhood Market at 660 W. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. — roughly 1.3 miles away from CV’s, which was previously known as Saver’s Club before a major renovation.

A GoFundMe page has been set up for employees, and a celebration is planned for 2 p.m. Sunday (March 11) in the store parking lot:

Our beloved CV’s/Marvin’s IGA is closing, so let’s send it off right with a parking lot party! We will buy/grill/eat food from Marv’s, tell stories, re-enact wild nights, and sing songs about the glory days, and we might get extra weird with some cake.

Tan said the chamber is always sorry to see businesses close, but officials are hopeful employees will rebound thanks to the region’s low unemployment rate — which hovered around 3 percent in December 2017, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

A regional grocery chain, CV’s was established in 1970 by C.V. Combs, who opened the chain’s first Arkansas store in 1981 in Paris, according to its company website.

Thirteen stores currently operate under the CV’s banner. CV’s bought Marvin’s Food Stores in 2004, bringing its total to 31 stores in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kansas, according to the website.

The company didn’t immediately return requests for comment.

The property, which includes four parcels and the building, is worth roughly $1.4 million, according to Washington County property records. The property was purchased in 1987 by the Hubert Charles Agee, Jr., trust and has housed a grocery store since 1994.

A trustee was unable to be reached for comment.

Tan said the property’s location — close to Dickson Street and within walking distance of downtown Fayetteville — offers exciting opportunities for future development.

She pointed to other vacated grocery stores in the region, some of which were repurposed by other local chains, and one in Prairie Grove that’s set to be converted into a library.

The roughly 2.5-acre property is zoned Main Street/Center, a mixed-use designation which allows  for lofts, apartments or offices above shops, and buildings designed for changing uses over time, according to the Fayetteville Planning Commission.

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