Update: An additional 139 stores was added to the closure list on February 9th.

Shopko announced today that they had filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection.  This was not a huge surprise as the company has been struggling for years.  The company announced the closure of 105 stores.  As is often the case with these announcements, there is a rush to see if “your Shopko (or Sears, Kmart, etc.) is closing.”

On a recent road trip in eastern Oregon and Washington, I traveled through Walla Walla, WA. and visited a Shopko store.  The store is located in the Wall Walla Town Center, a recently redeveloped mall.  Prior to redevelopment it was the Blue Mountain Mall that had opened in1989, was considered a “dead mall” in the 2000s and went bankrupt in 2012. While the Walla Walla store that I visited will remain open, the store itself has the feeling one gets as of late in a Sears or Kmart.

It did not help that it was located next to this Gottschalks store.

Gottschalks went bankrupt themselves in July of 2009.  This store has been vacant for nearly 10 years adjacent to the Shopko.

Location, location, location.