Joliet-based grocery chain to lay off 140 in NW Indiana

Nearly 140 workers at a northwestern Indiana grocery store will lose their jobs in September after efforts to sell the discount supermarket attracted no buyers.

Joliet-based Central Grocers says in a required state notice that the closure of its Ultra Foods store in Highland will cost 139 workers their jobs.

The job losses will be the latest for the financially-troubled company, which is also closing its Ultra Foods store in Kankakee, Illinois.

The (Northwest Indiana) Times reports (http://bit.ly/2utHrLa) more than 2,000 Central Grocers workers in the Chicago area have lost their jobs since the century-old company sought bankruptcy protection in May.

Central Grocers had been trying to sell the Highland and Kankakee Ultra Foods stores since December after an attempt to auction them off in federal bankruptcy court failed.

Itasca-based Jewel/Osco last week lost on a bid to acquire Central Grocers' 20 Strack & Van Til stores in Indiana.