Blue Goose customers express sadness after hearing news of store’s closing

In shopping at Blue Goose Market on Saturday, Sandy Spiegel made sure she picked up some guacamole.

“Blue Goose makes its own guacamole and it’s really good,” said Spiegel, who lives in Geneva but had previously lived on the east side of St. Charles.

That’s only one thing that she will miss when the family owned Blue Goose closes its doors after more than 90 years in business.

On Friday, Blue Goose Market President and CEO Paul Lencioni announced the store was closing. He said a number of factors are contributing to the store’s closing, including the pandemic and supply chain issues. And like other businesses across the nation, Blue Goose Market is experiencing an employee shortage.

“When you’re small, you just are what you are,” Lencioni said. “I’m sure things are going to be great in the supermarket industry after everything fixes itself. But you don’t have any safety when you’re small.”

A date for when the store will close has not yet been set, however, it is expected to be before the start of summer. Lencioni said he is working on selling the store.

In 1928, Annunciata “Nancy” Lencioni – his great-grandmother – opened the Blue Goose Fruit Market in what had been Gartner’s Bakery, 201 W. Main St. The store moved to its current location at 300 S. Second St. in downtown St. Charles in 2008.

Spiegel also likes the store’s commitment to its customers.

“The employees there would drop everything to help you find something,” she said.

And she likes that Blue Goose carries items that are unique to the store.

“They have different things in that supermarket that you can’t find at other places,” she said.

Longtime St. Charles resident Shawn Campbell has been shopping at Blue Goose for more than 30 years. She is going to miss many things about Blue Goose, including the fact that Lencioni sells locally made products in his store.

“He’s always been supportive of all local businesses,” Campbell said.

Campbell also took note of Lencioni’s kindness and wanting to give back to the community.

“I asked him if I could collect clothing for the homeless at his store and he allowed me to do that,” she said. “There’s so much that he’s done for the community because he’s just a good guy.”

As someone who lives and owns a business near the store – she and her husband own Campbell Creations, which is located along the Fox River – shopping at Blue Goose has also been convenient.

“For a while there, I was going there every day,” Campbell said.

Blue Goose was facing its share of obstacles even before the pandemic. In July 2019, Lencioni held a press conference in front of the store to announce that Blue Goose was fighting for its survival in the face of the competitive grocery industry.

But Lencioni, who lives in St. Charles and was elected to the St. Charles City Council last year, is looking at the store’s closing as a celebration of the store’s tenacity.

“Blue Goose gave everything it had to give to St. Charles,” he said. “So I don’t want to think of it as a tragedy. It’s just we’re in a different world.”