Lowe's closing Los Banos store; 100 workers to lose jobs

LOS BANOS -- Home improvement chain store Lowe's will close its Los Banos location in about four weeks and will lay off its 100 employees, according to a spokeswoman.

Karen Cobb said the store is one of 20 underperforming stores the company will close nationwide. She said the stores were determined to be "not sufficiently profitable."

"We certainly are in a position where we have to focus our resources to generate sufficient shareholder value," Cobb said.

Cobb said the 65 full-time and 35 part-time employees could be individually laid off anytime within 60 days. She said the employees were informed Sunday night.

Cobb said the employees were encouraged to seek openings at other locations. The closest store to the closed location is more than 35 miles away in Merced.

The store began closeout sales on its merchandise and will continue to do so until it closes, Cobb said, but its last day has not been determined.

"We're anticipating it to be approximately four weeks," Cobb said.

The Los Banos location opened the 117,000-square-foot building Nov. 4, 2006.

Lowe's owns the building and its surrounding 12.4 acres, which the county has assessed at $13.4 million. Cobb said Lowe's will look to sell it as soon as possible.

Los Banos Enterprise reporter Thaddeus Miller can be reached at (209) 388-6562 or tmiller@losbanosenterprise.com.

This story was originally published October 17, 2011 at 12:28 PM with the headline "Lowe's closing Los Banos store; 100 workers to lose jobs."