MUNCIE — The Marsh supermarket on Hoyt Avenue on Muncie's south side looks like the aftermath of a blizzard or hurricane warning. Most of the store's shelves and coolers are empty and the few shoppers on hand Monday evening pause in front of the depleted aisles, perhaps wondering if they need one of the few remaining packages of shredded cheese or red plastic cups.
The signs tell the story: "Last 6 days!" and "Store Closing" and "Everything 50% to 70% Off." Even the in-store signage and trash cans are marked for sale and rolling racks that once held doughnuts have been pushed out from behind the bakery counter and look like desert islands in the middle of the lonely aisles.
The Hoyt Avenue store was, along with a handful of others around the state, one of the first that Marsh announced would be closed and liquidated. At the time of the May 4 announcement, the end was projected for May 27, but looking at the empty shelves, it's hard to imagine much more than fixtures will be left by the end of this week.
Under the terms of Marsh's Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan, filed in the state of Delaware on May 11, the Hoosier supermarket chain's remaining 44 stores will follow Hoyt Avenue into retail oblivion in two months unless an investor or buyer can be found.
But will those 44 stores, including high-profile locations like Tillotson Avenue and McGalliard Road in Muncie, languish empty if they close? Or will some enterprising company, perhaps a competitor like Kroger, move in? The Star Press asked some experts.
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