A lot of you may not have ever heard of FS Appliance, TV and Audio, but I bet you’ve seen it out by Oakwood Mall. It used to have a location in Downtown Eau Claire. My dad used to be a home builder in town., and he used FS to get appliances for most of his jobs. Well, after 35 years of business in the area, it’s closing soon. To be honest, I’m surprised they held on this long, what with Sears and Best Buy and Menards looming around town. I’m assuming they lasted so long because they were a local company with dandy service and nice big list of long-time loyal customers. But the current economy was enough to sink the ship.

On a somewhat related note, I heard that a Wal-Mart decided not to build a new store in Spooner, Wis. (right down Hwy 53 from the Wal-Mart in Rice Lake), but I can’t find any info on why that decision was made, and whether or not the store was protested by the locals. At any rate, if the bad economy is to blame, that’s kind of a silver lining for the locally-owned shops up there.

Update: Commenter AgentPendrell asks, "I wonder if V1 would have any luck investigating all the rumors about stores closing. I've heard the following... Outback, Chicken Unlimited, Sweetwaters, Macy's, Applebees, Gap... any other rumors? Anyone know of any truth to these?"

Have you guys heard these rumors, too?