Owner of grocery store in East St. Louis talks about its closing after eight years in business
The Save-A- Lot grocery store at 10 Vieux Carre Drive in East St. Louis has closed, and its owner says he is retiring.
The store closed on Thursday, April 20, after eight years at the site, according to owner Robert “Bob” Bonner.
Bonner expects someone else will eventually buy the site.
Asked about why he closed the business, Bonner said: “It’s time for me to retire.”
“Someone else will come along and open another grocery store. I am retiring. Someone else will open it up as another grocery store,” he said. “ I’m done. I’m from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I’m retiring and going home.”
Bonner said he gave away all the remaining products in the store. “I gave it to the Urban League, Lessie Bates, a bunch of churches, and shut the doors,” he said.
Another Save-A-Lot store, at 2600 State St., remains open. It is not owned by Bonner.
Bonner opened his store in 2015. He said he did so to serve the Black community.
“Just being honest, I didn’t like how my people were being charged” at other nearby stores, he said.
“I love that community. I‘ve been there 30 something years. I fell in love with that community and there was such a need. There were so few services there when I came to the community,” Bonner said.
Around the time Bonner announced he was building his new store, Schnucks had announced it was leaving East St. Louis.
Former McDonald’s franchise owner
Bonner was born and raised in Fort Lauderdale, came to East St. Louis in 1997, and now lives in Orlando, Florida. He is a longtime business person, having owned McDonald’s franchises in Illinois and in St. Louis, as well as other business and real estate ventures.
He was working for AT&T when he moved to East St. Louis. He joined the company on Feb. 2, 1982, and continued working there for eight years.
Bonner said he always knew he had to work for himself one day, and he has shared that same entrepreneurial spirit with his four children.
He said it is important for children in the community to “see someone living out their dream.” ”They have to see somebody living out their dreams in order to dream,” he said.
He said a friend told him about the McDonald’s franchisee program “and I got in. “
He said he tore down an old McDonald’s store that had been at 809 St. Louis Ave. in East S. Louis and built a new one at 25th and State Street.
“Whenever I’m going into a community and I see the people deserve and need more, I tear the old one down and build a new one,” he said.
He also owned stories in St. Louis and Belleville. Bonner sold all of his McDonald’s restaurants in 2013.
What’s next for Bonner?
Going forward, Bonner said he will travel back and forth between Florida and East St. Louis to work on other projects.
He plans to build apartments and homes on land he owns in East St. Louis.
“It’s vacant land that I want to develop into housing, both apartments and roof tops,” Bonner said. “That’s my plan to do real estate development and put quality roof tops back in the city.”
Bonner’s message to anyone who wants to follow an entrepreneurial path or achieve a different life’s goal: “Envision what you want to do. Never let that image out of your mind,” he said. “The human mind is so powerful that anything you want … if you can see yourself doing it, the mind will take over and give it to you.”
