AMBOY – The recent closure of this town’s only grocery store was inevitable, but still painful, city officials say.

But another grocer might be waiting in the wings.

Beggs’ Certified Foods, in Amboy for 60 years, closed Sept. 7.

This year alone, the store racked up 11 “critical” Lee County Health Department citations. Inspectors observed poor hygienic practices, expired and improperly stored food, improper storage of toxic chemicals, and failure to prevent rodent or insect infestations – among other concerns.

The health department didn’t force the closure, though: Residents stopped shopping at Beggs’ as it struggled to keep prices competitive with big box stores like Walmart, Mayor Tom Nauman said Wednesday.

Now they must travel out of town to get their groceries, which is especially hard on the older, less-mobile generation, Nauman said.

“These older people do not want to go to Dixon or go to a big store like Walmart and have to walk through big parking lots,” he said. “They want to drive right up to the front door, get their stuff and go home.”

But the city has been talking with a “chain grocery store” owner for more than a year, so there’s hope another store will arrive soon, Nauman said.

He wouldn’t reveal who the talks are with, but he did say the city and the potential developer are “narrowing down a site.”

“We’re not in negotiations, per se. He [the developer] needs to get here for us to give him anything,” Nauman said, adding that he hopes to be able to make an announcement before the end of the year.

In the meantime, he said the loss of Beggs’ is hard on everyone.

“The timing is not good,” the mayor said. “But we almost needed this thing to fail to get a good store in here. There’s hope it won’t be shut down for long.”

Beggs’ opened in September 1955 at 234 E. Main St., and moved to 110 E. Division St. 2 years later. Lowell Beggs sold it to 11th Enterprises Inc. of Hoffman Estates in 2009. Information on that company, and whether it still owned the store, could not be found late Wednesday.

For years, residents watched the store go downhill, dragging sales with it, ​Amboy Chamber of Commerce President Colin Baker said.

“There’s a lot of talk of disappointment now that it’s closed. The disappointment isn’t over the fact that it closed, but that it had been declining,” Baker said. “I’ve been in there a few times, and I can’t say it gave me warm, fuzzy feelings to be in there.”

Now, it’s up to the community to decide whether it will support another grocer.

“The community needs to say ‘Yes, we want a grocery store,’” Baker said. “Part of the demise of Beggs’ – management had a little to do with it – was the rising costs. They can’t put the same price on a bag of chips that, say, Walmart can.

“That’s a huge difficulty small towns face,” he added. “We definitely need to think smart and make sure the community will support [another local grocery store].”

Losing a grocery store is one of the “biggest hits” a small community like Amboy (pop. 2,500) can take, and the void is palpable, Baker said.

“When there was a tattoo parlor here and it closed down, I don’t think anybody noticed,” he said. “When it comes to a grocery store, it’s definitely a huge hit on the community to have it close down.”