GREEN BAY - Gloria Jones remembers the original Shopko on Military Avenue in Green Bay as her store.

It was where her family shopped as a child. It was where her daughter, Donna, worked for many years, until her death in 2016.

On Monday, the store Jones fondly remembers visiting for decades was an empty shell of its former self when she walked in Monday afternoon on the store's last day of business.

Jones expected to see clothes and other items on the racks like there were when she stopped by Friday, but shoppers had snapped up everything they could haul away over the store's final weekend.

What she found instead was empty shelves, yellow "caution" tape, people dismantling display shelves and other longtime shoppers like her snapping nostalgic photos of an empty store.

"There were memories here for a lot of us. Now, there's nothing," Jones said. "I used to come through here and feel (Donna's) spirit. Now, it's all gone."

The Military Avenue store — the original Shopko — closed at 6 p.m. Monday, bringing an end to an era that began in April 1962 when pharmacist James Ruben launched the retail chain on Green Bay's west side.

Ruben used $1 million to develop the original Shopko concept of an all-in-one department store with a pharmacy. A Sure Way grocery store was attached to the building shortly afterward. The grocery store, renamed Jubilee Foods, would survive until 2004 when it closed and Shopko took over the extra space.

'It's surreal'

It has been 57 years since Store 001, as employees knew it, was as empty as it was Monday afternoon.

Outside of a few steeply discounted fixtures, the only products left for sale were the employee break room's Crock-Pot ($5) and a tube of cream color shoe polish (no price).

Even the metal plaque designating the Military Avenue store as the original Shopko location was sold as part of the liquidation. Logan Byrne, the store's general manager, said the last day was tough for employees and customers.

"It's surreal," Byrne said. "It's sad to see the first one go. A lot of customers are telling us they've been coming here since they were kids."

Similar scene played out Monday in Manitowoc, Stevens Point, Neenah and Plover in a wave of store closings that will continue around the state and Midwest as the bankrupt retailer closes its 360-plus stores in a liquidation that wraps up June 16.

On Military Avenue, the employees often looked as sad as the shoppers. More than 14,000 people who worked for the Ashwaubenon-based company will lose their jobs by the time the last store closes. Monday was the last day for some employees, while others said they will work at other stores in the region until they close.

Those in Store 001 wrote personal notes on a giant wall logo bearing the company's slogan, "The Stuff that Counts," turning it into one final goodbye to customers and coworkers. Some signers had worked at the store since the 1970s. Others took the chance to note they had "a wonderful time with crew and customers" or that they will miss their colleagues.

Yvonne Poirier can remember riding the bus to the Shopko and Sure Way to get her groceries, home supplies, prescriptions and eyeglasses all in one trip.

When the new coupons would come out, Poirier was on the bus to get into Shopko as early as possible for the deals. When the holiday displays went up, her kids were eager to join her on the trip to Shopko.

"I'd wait for the fliers and then try to be the first one through the door," Poirier said. "There was always a good deal, even at Christmastime."

Poirier has had to transfer her prescriptions to two different pharmacies and still is not sure where to go when the time comes to get new eyeglasses now that the store's eye care center is closed.

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"Everything was here. It was convenient for so many people," Poirier said.

Contact Jeff Bollier at (920) 431-8387 or jbollier@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @GBstreetwise.