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Local Al's 5 & 10 store closing after 28 years
Marc Loeb of Mobile, owner of the store, said, "It was not an easy decision to make and something I would rather not have to do but something that has to be done." His father, Alvin Loeb, founded the stores in 1979 but died in April at the age of 81. The senior Loeb was an executive with the old Super 5 & 10 when he bought some of their stores. Al's eventually grew to six stores. After the Jackson store closes at the end of October there will be three, Marc Loeb said. Al's suffered a fire at a shopping center in Orange Beach that destroyed the store and the entire inventory. Loeb said it was an uninsured loss. The Orange Beach store was rebuilt and has reopened. The Gulf Shores store closed when a church that owned the shopping center wanted the property for its use. Remaining stores are in Mobile and Fairhope.
"It was a sudden decision," he admitted, pointing out that Halloween and Christmas merchandise have already been put out. Al Loeb was an innovative merchandiser, taking on items that other stores did not offer. The store was an old-fashioned variety store and held its own when Wal-Mart opened a super center store in Jackson. Fish and aquarium supplies, flowers, home decorative items and more were popular departments. Loeb said his father always prided himself on being able to offer quality merchandise at low prices. Today, that is harder to do, he explained. One of the problems is the increased cost of freight due to rising fuel supplies that must be added to the cost of a product. Loeb recognized store manager Jeremy Lankford and longtime employees Ami Winters and Brigitta Sheffield for their work as well as other employees. Others who managed the store going back to the 1970s included Ronald and Brenda Bass, Mac McMillan, Jerry Cuterer and Guy Coliquett.
Loeb said the store has marked everything down 25 percent for now and he plans to be closed by Oct. 31.
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