LAURINBURG — For 20 years, Hi-Lites has brought name-brand clothing to Scotland County women for discount prices — but that will all be changing.
The clothing chain will be going out of business, with the signs showing up Thursday. For Store Manager Terry Gallman, the news wasn’t a complete shock, but she still wasn’t prepared for the news.
“They closed down four stores between August and January, so I wasn’t totally surprised,” said Gallman who has worked at the store on and off for the past 19 years. “But they originally told us they wouldn’t be closing our store since we were one of the most profitable stores.
“However, they decided they needed to close all the stores to start again,” she added.
Gallman said that while the store is going out of business, it’s likely it will still be several months before the store completely closes. Based on the stores already closed, it took around three months before those stores shut doors permanently.
Griffin 88 Stores owns the chain and Gallman added that there is a plan to rebuild the company into something else. According to the store’s website, there were 14 stores around North Carolina and South Carolina.
Gallman added that she hopes if the company does decide to go back into the clothing business, that they’ll come back to Laurinburg.
“The Griffin’s were very sad to be making this decision and I’m also very sad about it,” Gallman said. “I’d like to say that taking care of so many wonderful people in Scotland County was wonderful and Scotland County has always supported us.”
Hi-Lites has been a sponsor a large player in Scotland County with its sponsorship of the annual Scottish Pilot Club’s fashion show and all-around community support.
The annual fashion show was to be held Thursday as well, the same day the store officially announces its closing sale.
Reach Katelin Gandee at 910-506-3171 or at kgandee@laurinburgexch.wpenginepowered.com
