Employees at longtime downtown Chattanooga grocer Buehler's Market said Friday they're hearing the business may close as soon as next week.
David Bishop, a 12-year employee at the store and the owner's son-in-law, said his wife told him the market may close as early as Wednesday.
Buehler's owner Charles Morton could not be reached for comment.
Other employees at the 429 Market St. location said they, too, had heard the store may close, but they had not been specifically informed.
Bishop said people who live in the downtown area need such a market as Buehler's, which caters to many low-income patrons.
"These folks need a store down here," he said.
The Buehler's store has operated continuously at the site since 1965, though the market dates back 105 years in the city.
Early this year, Morton, 70, said the property was sold for $1.6 million to a buyer identified as 429 Market Gp, but he planned to keep operating the store.
Shoppers of Buehler's said they'd be disappointed if the store does close.
Erica Baker said she has shopped at Buehler's for 20 years. She said her mother did so before her, and her mother before that.
Chandria Ballard said she likes the fruit and meat at Buehler's. She said she'll probably go to stores such as Save-A-Lot or Aldi if the shop shuts down.
Morton said earlier this year that he started at the business as "a sack boy" and had owned the business since 1988.
"It has been my life for 52 years," he said then about the market that runs out of a one-story 6,369-square-foot brick building next to the popular Jack's Alley complex.
Morton said his clientele consists of many older customers who still cook at home, while a lot of the younger people moving into downtown apartments don't.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.