The deep bleeding that was already coming out earlier this year is complete, as the Shopko retail chain filed for bankruptcy and liquidation last week.
The remaining dozen stores in Iowa that had escaped the earlier closures — based on this bankruptcy filing — will wind down by the end of June.
Mason City’s Shopko opened July 14, 1985, as a Shopko, but all the Shopko Hometowns in the smaller communities used to be Pamidas. Allamakee, Franklin, and Montgomery are among the counties that will lose all chain retail except for Dollar General.