The Stater Bros. Market at 15757 Main Street, which opened more than 44 years ago and is one of three Stater Bros. grocery stores all located on Main Street in 103,411 population Hesperia, will close later this month.
“This store will permanently close on Sunday, January 25, 2026. We apologize for the inconvenience,” according to a sign outside the store, which is referred to as Store No. 97 by the San Bernardino-based company.
Hesperia was home to three Stater Bros. markets, all located on Main Street.
According to the company, now headed by CEO Greg McNiff and Executive Chairman Peter Van Helden, who was until last September the CEO, the lease on the 29,120 square feet of space where the store has been functioning continuously since 1980, is set to expire, and it does not make financial sense to continue to operate at that location and perpetuate the lease arrangement when there is a 56,586 square foot Stater Bros. Market at 16904 Main Street, opened in 2012, and a 19,732 square feet Stater Bros. Market at 14466 Main Street.
The savings the corporation will make in shuttering Store #97 will be devoted and the resources there diverted, the corporation said, “towards initiatives and projects that provide greater long-term benefits.”
According to the company, all 62 employees working at the 15757 Main Street location are being offered continuing employment at other Stater Bros. stores, where they will retain their current positions, seniority and pay scales.
Just as Stater Bros., which began as a small grocery store in Yucaipa operated by twin brothers Cleo and Leo Stater in August 1936 after they purchased their original market fro W.A. Davis before moving its headquarters and main warehouse to Colton and ultimately to San Bernardino on the grounds of the now shuttered Norton Air Force Base, is a San Bernardino County mainstay, Hesperia has been a key element of the company’s progression to become the 59th largest food retailer in the United States.
In September 1977, Stater Bros. opened its first Hesperia store near G Avenue. In 1980 it opened its second store, Store #97 at 15757 Main Street, the one being closed later this month. At that time, the industry standard for grocery stores was different than it is now. Toward the middle and end of the first decade of the Third Millennium, major grocery outlets, which Stater Bros. had become, were becoming far larger, featuring ovens for bakeries and preparation of ready-to-eat meals. In 2012, the company openedthe 56,586-square foot Stater Bros. Market at 16904 Main Street in keeping with the new standard. At present, Stater Bros. operates nearly 167 supermarkets in seven counties in California, 51 of which are in San Bernardino County, and has approximately 18,000 employees with annual sales of over $4 billion. At the end of the month, the number of total stores will drop to 166, with 50 in San Bernardino County.