PORT ANGELES — The prices plummeted and people poured in and out for 11 weeks solid until finally, on Monday, the Dollar Store shut its sliding doors.
The discount chain in Port Angeles Plaza at 1936 E. First St. still had a giant parking-lot sign up Tuesday afternoon, proclaiming markdowns to 39 cents on items that were once $1.
But the store was closed, and manager Janet Clarke was standing by while the furniture, fixtures and leftover merchandise were carried away.
Clarke and her 11 staffers are out of work, as are hundreds of others at the 37 Dollar Stores across Washington state and Oregon.
The parent company, Liquidation Outlet Inc. of Puyallup, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March, and blowout sales began of some $13 million worth of housewares, cosmetics, toys, stationery, party items, gift wrap, greeting cards and groceries.
Dollar Store employees, the company said, were told April 30 about the impending closures.
Port Angeles Plaza, meanwhile, is undergoing a kind of face-lift.
Meridian Builders Inc. of Seattle has been hired to build a beige stucco facade with new recessed lighting across the front of the shopping center.
And though it doesn’t look like it, Radio Shack, Star Video, Custom Computer Sales & Service and Jo-Ann Fabrics & Crafts are all open for the duration of the construction.
With the exception of Custom Computer, which is closed Saturdays, each of the shops is open seven days a week.
The plaza facade work is expected to wrap up by early September, Meridian foreman Randy Underwood said.
He added that the facade is being rebuilt to match the plaza’s Rite Aid store, which also is still open for business.
When asked where she’ll go after her seven years managing the Dollar Store, Clarke said she wishes she knew.
“There are no jobs out there, honey,” she added.
Port Angeles does have another place where everything costs one buck: Dollar Tree, at 3456 U.S. Highway 101 near Walmart.
As for that store’s future, “we are not going anywhere,” Dollar Tree manager Priscilla Lorentzen said Tuesday.
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3550 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
