Ohio grocery store business laying off 44 workers at Kettering location

Credit: Natalie Jones

Credit: Natalie Jones

KETTERING — A Cleveland-based grocery store and discount chain plans to lay off 44 workers at a Kettering location it is closing, calling the site “underperforming.”

Marc Glassman, Inc. will cut those jobs in the Oak Creek Plaza starting “March 6, 2023 or within 14 days thereof,” according to the company’s filing with the state.

Signs at the 2100 E. Whipp Road Marc’s grocery store last week indicated it would close permanently on Feb. 5, a date confirmed Monday by a company official.

Credit: Natalie Jones

Credit: Natalie Jones

Forty-four workers “at this location will be permanently laid off,” the business stated in a Worker Adjustment Retraining Notification (WARN) document last week.

“After five years in the Dayton market, Marc’s has made the difficult business decision to close the underperforming store,” Karen Klefman, company vice president of marketing, said in an email Monday to the Dayton Daily News.

“Marc’s Kettering will permanently close its doors” Feb. 5, she added. “We feel privileged to have been part of the community and would like to thank our customers for their patronage.”

Klefman declined to address when Kettering employees were notified of the layoffs and whether those impacted would be offered company assistance in seeking jobs.

The layoffs will impact 11 job classifications, including three in management, according to the filing. They also include 18 cashiers and 10 general stock positions.

Kettering officials were surprised to learn of the company’s decision to leave, City Manager Matt Greeson said in an email.

“Since 2018, the store has served our residents throughout the city, and provided a walkable option for those living in nearby residences,” he said.

“We will work with Marc’s to assist displaced employees in finding new employment or beginning a new chapter,” Greeson added. “The city will also work with the property owner and hopes to fill the space with a new business that will equally benefit our residents.”

The 6.49-acre site is owned by Oak WVR LCC of New York, according to Montgomery County land records. It bought the property for $1.9 million from Kimco Development in 2014, records show.

Marc’s opened the Kettering location — formerly occupied by Kroger — in August 2018. It was the company’s 59th Ohio store. It now operates about 61 stores throughout the Cleveland, Akron, Canton, Youngstown, Dayton and Columbus regions, according to its website.

Marc Glassman started his namesake in the Cleveland area in 1979.