Aurora, Oswego Lowes stores close with no warning

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People leave the Lowe's Store in Aurora on Monday after finding out that it had abruptly closed. Twenty Lowe's Hardware stores across the country were shut down, including one in Oswego. | Brian Powers~Sun-Times Media

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Updated: January 23, 2012 3:56AM

AURORA — Sugar Grove resident Bob Sterkel got an unpleasant surprise Monday morning in the parking lot at Lowe’s at Indian Trail and Orchard Roads in Aurora.

With a length of PVC pipe and some fasteners in hand to be returned to the home improvement outlet, he approached the store only to be turned away by a security guard who informed him the store had closed overnight.

“I was just here last night, too,” said Sterkel. “I guess I’ll have to find another store.”

Unfortunately, that store won’t be in Aurora — or Oswego. Both stores closed at the end of business Sunday, part of a nationwide shuttering of 20 stores in 15 states announced Monday morning. The closed stores had been under-performing, the company said.

Overnight, the Lowe’s name came down from the big box store. Price tags were pulled from sheds, fencing and play sets outside. Fall mums disappeared from the locked garden center.

Monday morning, cars circled the lot as drivers saw the barren store and pulled back out. But a few potential shoppers were curious to find out what had happened to their favorite home improvement retailer.

“I guess I’ll go to Menard’s or Home Depot,” said Tony Gomez of Aurora, with a cut piece of laminate flooring in his hand. “But Lowe’s was always a little better. The quality was great.”

Ten locations, including Aurora and Oswego, were closed Sunday; the other 10 will close in a month. The closings mean 1,950 job cuts, the Associated Press reported.

The Aurora store at 2372 W. Indian Trail had 86 employees, and the Oswego store at 2400 Route 34 had 96, according to a spokeswoman.

Customers who had work pending at those stores, such as product installations, will be contacted, she said.

But before those notifications went out Monday morning, customers were still headed to the store to find out what would happen to their flooring and windows. They were directed to store locations in St. Charles and Naperville.

Most shoppers, looking to pick up some tools, light bulbs or a toilet seat, said they’d just head across the road to the competition.

“I guess I’ll have to go back to Home Depot for it,” said Rick Albright of Aurora, out shopping for a water heater for his church. A Home Depot is kitty-corner from Lowe’s Aurora store. In Oswego, the Home Depot and Lowe’s are about a mile apart on Route 34.

Albright, who said he shops at Lowe’s about once a month, said he always checks prices between the two stores.

In addition to the store closings, the corporate office, based in Mooresville, N.C., also reported that only 10 to 15 new stores will open annually beginning in 2012. Previously the company expected to open 30 stores per year. It will open 25 stores this year.

In August, Lowe’s spokesmen said volatile weather and shoppers’ worries about the economy hurt demand. Its net income was nearly flat in the second quarter, and the company lowered its yearly sales forecast.

The chain closed five stores nationwide then, including locations in Elgin and Schaumburg, just as abruptly.

The Illinois Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act requires employers to give 60 days’ notice to employees and their unions prior to closing any location with 75 or more workers. Employees will receive pay and benefits for 60 to 90 days, according to a press release from Lowe’s corporate office.

But while that’s at least a little good news, the closings are still leaving customers with anxiety.

“I was just here yesterday to look at snowblowers and I came back today to buy one,” said Roxie Riforgiate of Hinckley.

“It was the perfect location and a beautiful store. It just makes you a little more insecure about the economy and the times.”