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Dahl's Foods announced to employees Friday that it plans to close the stores in Ames and Ankeny.Watch video of this storyThe company said the stores are closing due to poor performance."It makes the company stronger by closing them the rest of the company is doing quite well," said Mark Pearson, Dahl's Ingersoll store director.Dahl's said it has not scheduled a date yet for when the Ames and Ankeny stores will close. Both stores will remain open until the store inventory is liquidated, the company said.COMPETITION:Pearson said there is a lot of competition around."It's a competitive market, there's no doubt about that," said Pearson. "Everything that sells groceries is a competitor in some way or another.""Iowa is home to a number of successful Iowa-based supermarket chains, national chains and a network of strong independent grocery stores so it is a highly competitive marketplace. As such, Iowa consumers enjoy some of the lowest grocery prices and best customer service in the country. This level of competition does put pressure on retailers. On average, Iowa grocers operate within a one percent profit margin," said Michelle Hurd, president of the Iowa Grocery Industry Association."These changes, while not easy decisions, will allow us to focus on serving customers in our core neighborhood locations," said Dahl's CEO Craig Moore. "This is a strategic business move; one that we feel will help us continue to provide customers in greater Des Moines the best grocery experience possible. And, it's a smart long-term business direction for Dahl’s and our employee-owners."The other 11 Dahl's locations will remain open.A quick scan of the Metro Des Moines area shows more than 80 stores that have groceries including Dahl's, Hy-Vee, Fareway, Campbells, Whole Foods, Traders Joes, ALDI, Gateway Market, Walmart Supercenters, Target, Save-A-Lot, Family Dollar and Dollar General. That's before you count Casey's, Kum & Go, Walgreens and others that carry at least basic grocery items.WORKERS OFFERED OTHER JOBS:Some 45 full time and approximately 80 part time positions are being cut.All of the employees will be offered positions at other store locations, the company said in a news release issued Friday morning.The company said it will focus on its key metro locations and make updates to some stores layouts and as well as add products.REACTION:Lori Peake and her friends go to the Ames Dahl's deli to play bridge every Friday morning."It's got good parking. It's kind of centrally located, close to quite a few of us," said Peake.It's been that way since 2011, soon after the grocery store opened.The bridge club first learned from KCCI on Friday that their Dahl's was closing."Immediately thought about where would we play bridge," said Jeannette Bohnenkamp."Finding a place that's friendly to a group of this size coming in every Friday morning can be a challenge," said Peake.Sally Elbert lives a few blocks away."They've got a great bakery. Management is amazing," said Elbert. "It'll be sad to see them go."Peake said she's not surprised."We sit right here and we just don't see people with carts go by," said Peake.Dahl's Foods was founded in 1931 in Des Moines.