March 2, 2022

The sign in pink paper taped to the entrance door at Andy’s Affiliated Foods announces Tuesday’s special: bananas at 28 cents a pound.

The lighted sign on the property’s edge announces something different today: Andy’s owner Bob Jelsma is retiring, and the grocery store is closing.

And despite the lure of 15 percent off groceries, an hour after Andy’s usual opening time, the doors remain locked and the store’s lights on their overnight dimness.

Jelsma had hinted in December that his days as a stand-alone grocery store owner were coming to a close. Jelsma, in his 70s and the second member of his family to run the store, said physically it was harder to move the produce and boxes of canned goods around the store.

This morning, he confirmed that was the reason behind his decision to close the store.

“I just got old, I guess,” Jelsma said. “I’m 72. I knew I wasn’t going to be here. A lot of people don’t realize this, but I sold that land to Dollar General because I knew I wasn’t going to be here. It was two years in the process.”

Rumors of the store closing had swirled around the 18th Street and Cleveland Avenue area earlier in the winter as the Dollar General prepared to open next door to the north. Andy’s had been a longtime fixture in the neighborhood and became known for its meat department. Jelsma’s father, the late Andy Jelsma, opened the store 72 years ago. Jelsma has been the owner for about 35 years.

Andy’s is the second-oldest family-owned grocery store in Sioux Falls, its tenure surpassed only by Franklin Food Market on North Cliff Avenue. Franklin owner Ted Haggar said he and Jelsma speak almost every day as competitors and friends

Haggar and his wife drove by Andy’s on Tuesday night just to see the official going-out-of-business sign.

“It was pretty tough to see it actually,” Haggar said. “His father knew my father; my wife worked there when we were first married. Bob was there for that neighborhood — a friendly, service-orientated guy. You won’t find a nicer guy. It’s the end of an era in that neighborhood with that store.”

Even as Sioux Falls grew, Jelsma maintained his practice of extending credit to loyal customers, Haggar said. And Jelsma’s decision to sell land for a Dollar General was to ensure the neighborhood would still have a place to buy grocery staples.

“His biggest concern, he was waiting until there was someplace they could get bread and milk,” Haggar said. “He felt bad about leaving the neighborhood empty.”

The closing will be the second grocery store loss for Sioux Falls this year. Hy-Vee closed its location at 10th Street and Kiwanis Avenue on Jan. 1.

For Andy’s, the going-out-of-business sale will run through March and possibly into the first week of April. Currently, items are 15 percent off. After equipment such as refrigeration is removed, the building will be put on the market.

A business attached to Andy’s, Discovery Carpet, also will close. That, too, is Jelsma’s.

“I always just did that for fun, kind of like if you want a carpet, you had to come and find me,” he said. “Then you get a deal on carpets.”

Even though Jelsma threatens to “sneak out of town by the back alley,” he expects to remain in Sioux Falls.