Giant Eagle Closing Discount Stores

PITTSBURGH — Giant Eagle Inc. is shutting down its value grocery stores. 

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the retailer will close all eight Good Cents Grocery + More locations in Pennsylvania and Ohio. More than 200 employees at the stores received notice on Feb. 25 that the locations would close by March 26.

"While our Good Cents locations initially gained popularity, numerous business and economic factors have made it difficult to continue to successfully deliver the shopping experience customers have come to expect from Good Cents," said Giant Eagle spokesman Dan Donovan in a statement to the newspaper. "We greatly appreciate the loyalty and patronage we have received since the stores' openings."

Giant Eagle opened its first experiment in the segment under the name Valu King in 2008, but later changed that to Good Cents.

Pittsburgh-based Giant Eagle Inc., operates 232 supermarkets, and 195 fuel and convenience stores throughout western Pennsylvania, north central Ohio, northern West Virginia and Maryland.