MONROE – The buzz around town proves to be true after Blain’s Farm and Fleet announced Jan. 23 that the Monroe store location will move less than half a mile away and relocate into the old ShopKo location, at 405 W 8th St.

According to a press release sent last night, the new store location will offer “extensive improvement” of the previous ShopKo building and will add 1.5 acres of adjacent land with plans to expand.

Construction is expected to be complete in the fall of 2020.

The new store will offer a larger location and more than 20,000 additional square feet of space. According to the press release, it will add a “best-in-class covered drive thru” and “updated state of the art automotive service center.”

Wider aisles, expanded products and brands and LED lights on the interior and exterior will also be part of the changes.

“It is so meaningful to all of us that we will now be able to make a big investment back into a community that has supported Blain’s Farm and Fleet for 56 years,” Jane Blain Gilbertson, owner and president, said in the release. “Monroe has been so loyal to us, and we look forward to repurposing this building, purchasing additional adjacent land and creating the best possible experience for our neighbors.”

ShopKo, a retail store that also offered a pharmacy, closed June 16, 2019. The store filed papers in a bankruptcy court to restructure in January of 2019 and close a number of its stores that initially didn’t include Monroe. However, in mid-June, ShopKo announced all of its stores would close.

Since then, both ShopKo Optical and Monroe Clinic FastCare that were both part of ShopKo have relocated elsewhere in Monroe.

The current Farm and Fleet location at 251 8th St., Monroe, will remain open while construction is underway, according to the release. They are looking for parties looking to redevelop the current store site after the relocation. Interested parties can contact Sara Iverson Smith, director of real estate, construction and facilities at siversonsmith@blainsupply.com.