FAIRMONT — Shopko will close all of its stores, including the Fairmont location, within three months, the Green Bay-based retailer announced Monday.

About 5,000 employees will lose their jobs.

On Jan. 16, Fairmont was listed among 100 of the company’s 360 stores it planned to close in its effort to regroup after filing for bankruptcy. Two days later, the company reversed its decision on closing the Fairmont store, citing financial support from its local landlord.

Shopko then announced plans in February to close 250 stores, about 70 percent of its locations, to scale back business in hopes of attracting a buyer or investor. The endeavor was not successful.

“This is not the outcome that we had hoped for when we started our restructuring efforts,” Shopko CEO Russ Steinhorst said in a statement. “We want to thank all of our teammates for their hard work and dedication during their time at Shopko.”

The news came as an unpleasant surprise locally, with numerous posts on social media expressing distress over the news.

“We were hoping for better news,” added Ned Koppen, president of the Fairmont Area Chamber of Commerce. “It’s always hard to lose a business that has been part of the community as long as Shopko has.”

The Fairmont Shopko was built in 1985.

Paula Mosloski of Fairmont has worked in the Payless Shoes portion of the local Shopko store for 15 years. Payless employees — there are five in Fairmont, including the manager — learned in February that the company would close all of its stores. Mosloski says employees have been told they will lose their jobs in mid-April.

Payless began liquidating its inventory locally on Monday.

For Mosloski, the loss extends beyond Payless.

“We were like a family,” she says of all those who work at the Shopko in Fairmont.

Mosloski said that when she came into the store Sunday night, she and a Shopko employee shared a teary-eyed embrace because everyone is feeling so sad.

“The people [at Shopko] are really nice,” Mosloski said. “Everybody went out of their way to help customers.”

Shopko also has been selling its pharmacy records, with Kroger purchasing records from about 40 of the dispenseries. In December, Iowa-based Hy-Vee purchased another 22 of the pharmacies, including the one located in Fairmont.

Shopko’s decision to liquidate will terminate the brick-and-mortar business that originated in 1962 in Green Bay.

Staff writer Lee Smith contributed to this article.