A&P to close remaining Kohl's Food Store outlets Sue Ashley of Racine, returns her shopping cart to its corral after shopping at Kohl's Food Emporium, in Racine, Wis., Friday, June 13, 2003. (AP Photo/Racine Journal Times, Ron Kuenstler) Associated Press MILWAUKEE (AP) - Kohl's Food Stores Inc. will close its 23 supermarkets in August, eliminating about 1,500 jobs with the shutdown of what once was the dominant grocery retailer in southeastern Wisconsin, the company announced Friday. Kohl's once operated more than 60 stores in Wisconsin but has lost market share steadily for more than two decades. The remaining stores are in Milwaukee, Racine and Waukesha counties. Some Kohl's stores could be purchased by other supermarket chains. Company officials visited local stores Friday to deliver the news. The local stores will be closed by no later than mid-August, sources told The Journal Times of Racine. Sue Ashley, a shopper at a Kohl's store in Racine, said she will be sorry to lose her favorite neighborhood grocery store. "If they close it, I am going to miss it terribly," she said. "The personal touch that store has given me over the years is the reason I keep shopping there." The Kohl's food store chain has been owned since 1983 by Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. (A&P) of Montvale, N.J. At the time of the purchase, the chain's market share had slipped considerably, and the Pick 'n Save chain soon took over as No. 1. A&P announced in February that it had sold seven Madison-area Kohl's supermarkets to Copps Corp., and that it was exploring the sale of its remaining Milwaukee area stores to cut debt and reduce operating expenses. The Kohl's chain was founded in 1927 by Max Kohl and was operated by him and his sons, Allen and Herb, now a U.S. senator, until the Kohl family sold it in 1972 to the Brown & Williamson Tobacco Co., later known as BATUS. At the time, it led the food store market in the Milwaukee area.