Ben Franklin wants to liquidate items by Thanksgiving

ROY — Ben Franklin Crafts will be the next major retailer to pull out of the 1900 West commercial business district. A few weeks ago the craft store, which has been a staple of the Roy community for 53 years, announced it would be closing.Store owners Stephanie and Mike Bennion are working with a liquidator to close shop by Thanksgiving.

“Everybody has been crying,” Stephanie Bennion said over the decision to close.

Customers ask regularly as they check out what went wrong and the answer is always the same: unresolved lease issues. Bennion said she couldn’t elaborate, on the advice of their attorney.

But a spokesman for landlord Thomas Fox Properties doesn’t see it that way.

“We didn’t know about lease problems. We offered them a new lease in August and we thought they would sign it and stay here,” said Brett Fox. “I’m just surprised they started this.”  

He didn’t feel there was a big change from the previous lease that had been signed 30 years ago. He noted that the rent did not go up more then 10 percent.

“This has been an extremely, hard, emotional decision for us,” Bennion said. The family has been a staple in Roy for decades, with Mike’s parents opening the store across the street from the current location over 50 years ago. The liquidator is marking down prices, but Bennion said they have an entire warehouse to clean out before the doors close for good.

Many customers have inquired whether they will re-open in another location and if so, when.

“That is really hard to say. We are not ruling it out, but we have no idea on how long it will take or where it will be,” Bennion said. Many have asked them to move into the old Albertson’s location across the street, but she said that isn’t an option because of the cost of a lease.

Mike Bennion’s brothers own another Ben Franklin Crafts location in Kaysville that is not connected with the Roy store.

“The customers have been so overwhelming and positive,” Stephanie Bennion said.

The city has also tried to step in and help, but she said it is really out of their hands. She said the stagnant economy and a dilapidated building haven’t helped matters, but it wasn’t enough to close the store, it was mainly the lease problems that sealed the deal.

Fox said the idea of updating the building is something that has been discussed, but they would like a potential tenant to come with a plan and then they could work on the update. He said some tenants have approached them about the location, but nothing has been set yet.

“I am just stunned,” said customer Joan Isom, a Honeyville resident who grew up in Roy and still frequents the store. “It is a part of this city.”