Three Biz Close for Good, While Another Finds a New Home

Friday will be the last day for Stop & Shop's six stores in New Hampshire, including the one on Portsmouth Avenue in Exeter.

All six Stop & Shop stores and three gas stations in the Granite State will close on Friday, Aug. 16 at 9 p.m.

Stop & Shop announced on Aug. 6 that it would be closing its New Hampshire stores on or before Sept. 21. That date came sooner rather than later after shoppers quickly emptied the shelves once the store started selling all items at half off. 

"We deeply appreciate and thank our associates for their years of service and dedication to the communities of Southern New Hampshire," company spokeswoman Suzi Robinson said via email. "We thank our loyal customers for their patronage and appreciate the opportunity to have served since 2003."

The Starbucks inside the Exeter Stop & Shop was originally supposed to stay open until Sept. 6, but it is now scheduled to close Friday as well. Employees there have started a petition drive seeking to bring another Starbucks to Exeter.

A Citizens Bank branch inside the Exeter Stop & Shop will also close.

Other important things you should know today:

• In case you missed it, Hampton will soon do something it really doesn't want to do, and there are some big things happening this weekend.
• The Hampton Beach Children's Festival concludes today with the Costume Parade along Ocean Boulevard.
• Speaking of businesses, Hampton KatDancin' Studio has moved to 680 Lafayette Road, next to Hoaty's.