'I'm not surprised': Thorntons closing its only downtown Louisville location later this month

Many of the customers that frequent the Thorntons gas station downtown found out Wednesday it was closing."It's a pillar of the community. You know, he's been here, serves everybody, you know, all walks of life," said David, a frequent customer.On Feb. 26, the lights will stop shining at the Thorntons gas station sign at the corner of West Broadway and First Street in downtown Louisville.A company spokesperson confirmed Tuesday evening they will be shutting down operations for good."That's going to be sad for a lot of people in the community, man, because a lot of people depend on the store," said customer Tracy Ward. "I'm not surprised. You know what I mean? It's it's crazy, you know, I mean, just with a lot of different things going on," said Paul Carter, another customer.While the Thornton's spokesperson has not responded to our questions about why they're closing, WLKY did some digging. According to the community crime map, just within the past year, there have been 30 reported incidents at this gas station or near it. The list of crimes includes assaults, robberies, shoplifting and fraud. "I'm not really that surprised because it's like I say, it's been bad here since I got up here anyway. I got here in May of 2018," said David.Thorntons is in councilman Jecorey Arthur's district, and he says he, too, was caught off guard by news of the closing. He says within a matter of hours, social media posts pointed to the homeless population around the gas station as a reason why. "I think it does hurt, but at the same time, I think what hurts beyond the business closing is the rhetoric, the rhetoric about our unhoused population is really sick," Arthur said.As to what happens next, Arthur and many others say they hope it turns into something that will benefit the community. "If we address the immediate need in the area, we can turn it into a resource hub; we can turn it into one of our thousands of non-profits that are doing the work of taking care of Louisvillians," Arthur said."Anything to help people that's homeless, you know, jobless, you know, anything like that," Ward said."It would be nice to keep a gas station here because I live only a few blocks down the road from here," said David.WLKY reached out to the Mayor's office for a statement:"The closure of Thorntons at First and Broadway is an opportunity for new development and future growth. First and foremost, we hope this, along with the Broadway All The Way project will increase safety around the intersection. We are optimistic the property will help create a true gateway into downtown and complement the significant and exciting investments we are seeing in the heart of our city, including Jefferson Technical and Community College's $90 million revitalization project and the University of Louisville's $280 million Health Sciences Simulation Center and Collaboration Hub in the LOUMED District."