SMITHFIELD, R.I. — Benny’s is announcing that the southern New England retailer is closing its 31 stores.
An announcement Friday afternoon says the Bromberg family, which owns the chain, is retiring. The company says the decision to close was “strongly influenced by the changing face of retailing today and the dominance of online retailers like Amazon and others.”
Arnold Bromberg says the landscape “shifted in a way that makes it almost impossible” for small, family-owned chains like Benny’s to reasonably compete in the future.
He says they want to close in an “orderly, structured way.” The company will begin winding down immediately and will close by the end of 2017. The 93-year-old chain has 715 employees that will lose their jobs in Rhode island, Massachusetts and Connecticut.
They have 5 CT locations: Danielson, Groton, Norwichtown, Killingly and Old Saybrook.
