Festival Foods to close its Greenfield location, lay off 91 employees

Festival Foods, a family-owned grocery chain with stores throughout Wisconsin, announced that it will be closing its Greenfield location.

In a notice filed Tuesday with the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, Festival Foods said it plans to permanently close the store at 4777 S. 27th St., Greenfield. The move will affect 91 workers at the location.

The business will terminate all but three employees effective Nov. 4, 2024. The remaining three employees will transfer to other Festival Foods locations, according to the notice.

Brian Stenzel, senior director of community involvement for Skogen’s Festival Foods, said closing the store was a difficult decision.

"Despite the hard work of the Greenfield team, the sales of this store never reached the goals we had for it," he said.

Stenzel said there were also other factors.

"While sales are the largest factor driving the decision to close this location, we also have seen an increase in theft and safety related incidents impacting our guests and associates," Stenzel said.

He said there are no plans to close any other stores and said the company remains focused on growth with the opening of stores in Kimberly and Hudson this fall.

Greenfield Mayor Michael Neitzke said he was saddened greatly by the store's closure.

"Festival is a great company that recognizes the value of being part of community," Neitzke said. "That recognition translated to generously participating in, and donating to, our community without great fanfare. This is not something seen by many of the largest of grocers."

Neitzke said the Greenfield community is weaker because of the store's exit.

"Festival put their money where their spirit is, while the bigger players seem to put their resources into advertising the promotion of an image of virtue," he said.

The Greenfield location has only been open for a little over three years. It opened in July 2021 .

The Greenfield Festival Foods used to be the home of a Target store . When it opened as a Festival Foods, it was the third Festival Foods location in the Milwaukee area.

The other two Festival Foods in the area are in West Allis, at 11111 W. Greenfield Ave., and in Hales Corners at 5600 S. 108th St.

Contact Adrienne Davis at amdavis@gannett.com. Follow her on X at @AdriReportss .

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Festival Foods to close its Greenfield location, lay off 91 employees