End Appears Near For Kimball Shopko

If it weren’t already the case, the future for Kimball’s Shopko Hometown store appears certain to be short.

Consider:

• The store has begun selling off its fixtures.

• A banner across the front of the building says “CLOSING” in big, bold letters.

• The founder of a nearly 1,400-signature petition to save the store asked top Shopko executives this past week to reconsider their shutdown decision. The company replied that the “right decision” for Shopko “is to close the store.”

Nicole Sanneh of Kimball, who started the petition Dec. 19 on change.org, received the reply on the website this past we...