People living and working in downtown Kitchener will have one less place to buy their groceries, as J & P Grocery announced Tuesday it's closing down at the end of the day.

In a message posted to social media the owners said it will be open for lunch on Tuesday, "with sales of some clearance items" before closing down permanently in the late afternoon.

"We regret the sudden nature of our closing but we are moving on to take care of ourselves, each other and our family," the owners wrote.

"We will continue to support DTK and our community in whatever capacity we can and hope that as a whole the DTK residents will continue to support small locally owned independent businesses in our core so they may thrive. We have to be there, shop there and value what they have to offer," the post said.

Intended to be a 'full service stop'

The store was located behind the Vidyard office at 8 Queen St. between Duke and King streets.

When it opened, owner Sarah Pepper said she and her husband wanted to provide a "full service stop" that was walkable for people who, like them, live in the core.

"And that's what we really wanted for ourselves. Then as we started delving into this a little bit deeper, we discovered that's what most of the residents in the downtown want."

She compared their vision to corner stores in large cities, like Toronto: compact, carrying the essentials, and often located on the ground floor of a condo building or office tower.