GRACEKENNEDY subsidiary Hi-Lo Food Stores will on New Year’s Eve shut down its supermarket in Liguanea Plaza on Old Hope Road, GraceKennedy group chief operating officer Don Wehby informed the Business Observer yesterday.

“Hi-Lo Food Stores will vacate its supermarket located at 134 Old Hope Road after over 25 years of operations,” said Wehby in a written response to a Business Observer query. “We will miss our very loyal customers who have provided us with their support over the years and use this opportunity to publicly acknowledge and thank them.”

The closure will reduce the number of Hi-Lo operations islandwide to 14 — five of which are located in Kingston and St Andrew.

Wehby did not say the reason for the closure, but a Hi-Lo source told this newspaper that that the store was being forced to vacate the premises because the owners of the plaza, Tony and June Wong, want to use the space which Hi-Lo occupies, to pursue their own project. Efforts to reach the Wongs, who are also the principals of the Liguanea Drug and Garden Centre in the plaza, were unsuccessful up to press time.

In his response, Wehby did not indicate what plans Hi-Lo had for the employees — whose count was estimated at 48 by a reliable source.

Hi-Lo Food Stores started operating in Jamaica in 1954. it was originally owned by

the Neal and Massey Group, but was acquired by GraceKennedy in 1984.

GraceKennedy’s Food Trading division, of which the Hi-Lo chain of supermarkets is part, contributed $705.8 million to the firm’s operating profit during the third quarter ending September 30 2009 — a 17 per cent increase over the corresponding period last year.