LOGAN SQUARE — Logan Square residents looking to conveniently mail a package may have to venture further out of the way after two UPS stores and a small post office closed.
The neighborhood’s UPS store at 2020 N. California Ave. and the store at 1658 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Bucktown closed last week, neighbors and signs on the doors noted.
Just up the street, Foodsmart’s small post office remains closed as well and might not reopen, a manager at the store told Block Club Wednesday.
The post office inside the 2901 W. Armitage Ave. store was closed after new owners took over the business last year.
New ownership ended the contract for its post office spot, a USPS spokesperson previously said. The new owners needed to apply for their own contract to reopen the post office.
The store’s new manager, who declined to give his name, said that a public hearing with USPS officials has to take place before owners can move forward with a new contract, if at all.
“It looks like we won’t have it back because there has to be a public hearing where other people and businesses can bid to have the post office at a different locations,” said the manager. “We apologize for the inconvenience.”
The manager said the owners want to keep the post office section inside the store and will try to bid to keep the store there, but it may not work. He said a timeline for next steps is unknown.
The franchised UPS stores were both owned by The Neely Group, Inc., according to public records. Managers of the group did not reply to requests for comment. The Neely Group also operated a UPS store at 777 N. LaSalle Drive, but it’s since closed, records show.
A UPS spokesperson said the company is aware of the recent closure of the two franchised locations but declined to answer further questions.
The Bucktown store closure is a “huge loss to the community in terms of services they provided,” said Steve Jensen, president of the Bucktown Community Organization. “We hope that UPS opens another store very soon.”
With the Bucktown and Logan Square locations closed, the closest UPS store is at 2027 W. Division St. in Ukrainian Village, according to a UPS store locater map.
The Logan Square store has signs on its door that indicate the closure is temporary, but the store is listed as permanently closed on the UPS website.
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