Business bracing for mine closure's impact
PALMER — The news of the mine closure quickly spread throughout the Upper Peninsula Thursday, especially in the town of Palmer.
Besides the mine, the town has just a handful of businesses. One of them is Ski’s Handy Grocery, located directly across from the mine.
Managers Holly and Tony Slawinski indicated that it’s too early to determine how the closure of the mine will affect their business.
“We’ve ran the store through layoffs before, but this is a lot of people that know that they’re not coming back here,” said Tony Slawinski. “They need to find other means to try and replace what they lost.”
“My heart breaks for them, it really does,” said Holly Slawinski about the mine’s closing. “I have friends who are impacted and I have people who I went to school with impacted. Their world just got turned upside down.”
Ski’s Handy Grocery has been in the Slawinski family since 2001. The store is currently open seven days a week.