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Friendly Markets, located at 725 W. Logan St. in Celina, will be closing Nov. 7.
CELINA - A Celina delicatessen and grocery store renowned for its fresh meats, catering service and daily lunch specials is slated to close Nov. 7.
Friendly Markets made the announcement on social media Monday, revealing that all groceries and frozen items except for deli/steak, as well as pop and Gatorade, will be marked down 50%.
"Come on in now and support us until we close our doors on November 7! There will be nothing! No Catering or anything else anymore!" the post states.
Owner Nathan Giesige declined to comment further when contacted by The Daily Standard.
In a statement shared on social media, Celina Mercer County Chamber of Commerce thanked Friendly Markets and the Giesige family "for years of great service and friendship."
"We are sad to see this and wish you all the best," the chamber said. " You have ALWAYS been a pleasure to work with and a true supporter of community. Taste of Celina won't be the same without you! We wish you all the best."
The Celina store will be selling all groceries and frozen items except for deli/steak, as well as pop and Gatorade, for 50% off.
In October 2024, Mercer County Commissioners approved an $85,000 revolving loan to Nathan Giesige Enterprises LLC to help buy Friendly Markets at 725 W. Logan St. from his father, Dave Giesige.
The total purchase price was listed as $300,000 and was to be financed with the $85,000 revolving loan, $15,000 in equity and $200,000 from a private lender. The 20-year loan bears an interest rate of 3%.
The county holds second position mortgage on the land and building. As part of the agreement, four full-time equivalent jobs were to be retained, three of which to be offered to low- to moderate-income persons.
Prior to that, Friendly Markets of Celina LLC purchase the property - the site of the former Logan Street IGA - on Oct. 14, 2009, for $170,000 from Christina L Sutter, the Mercer County Auditor's Office website shows. Logan Street IGA closed in 2007.
During a Celina Planning Commission meeting over the summer, Nathan Giesige was granted conditional use approval to turn a portion of the grocery store/deli into the Celina Teen Center.
At the meeting, former Friendly Markets owner Dave Giesige addressed the headwinds adversely affecting the grocery store, including changing social dynamics in which couples are having fewer children and often waiting later to start their families.
"I've had the store for 15 years, and I've seen the groceries, just sales go down," he told commissioners. "When the dollar store came in, they say that's usually the final nail in the coffin for small grocery stores. I've been in groceries … 50-plus (years) doing groceries."
He noted he's seen family dynamics change so much during that time.
"More people going out to eat, because both mom and dad work and it's easier to go out and get something to eat," he said. "But things are getting a little more pricier, now, with what's going on. Groceries is just that steady decline. But … meat and deli's always been our mainstay, catering."
Friendly Markets and Light House Ministries had planned to join forces to establish the nonprofit Celina Teen Center in a section of the store, a safe place for local youth to hang out and better themselves through positive mentorships and moral leadership.
Daniel Arnold, director of the proposed Celina Teen Center and Light House Ministries, shared their vision with the Celina Planning Commission. Arnold said he previously ran the now defunct Light House Teen Center from 1987 to 1997.
Spotlighting the growing societal ills of drugs, abuse and bullying, Arnold insisted the time is ripe to open a safe place for the youth of Celina to congregate with one another and develop positive mentorships that address wellness issues, life skills and career pathways.
Arnold said he and his volunteer staff would "be a catalyst and a stepping stone for them to get help."
"This is going to be a Celina Teen Center, and it's going to be open to everybody," Arnold said. "We're going to have a selected staff. Everybody's going to have to be trained, everybody will be qualified through the police department."
When contacted by the newspaper Monday, Arnold said Light House Ministries would be interested in acquiring the delicatessen/grocery store should the opportunity arise, adding that he still wants to establish the Celina Teen Center.
"If we could get the building here, we'd stay here," he said. "It's perfect for us. The size is great, and we have corporations lined up to help us, but I wouldn't allow them to. Thankfully, we put a hold on all of it until I figured out financially what was going on here because we really didn't know."
