As a memento of its more than 40 years in business, campus convenience store Village Corner gave away free bags of “genuine dust bunnies from the VC” before closing its doors on Saturday.

Village Corner owner Dick Scheer sold his lease for the space, located at the corner of South University Avenue and South Forest Avenue, to developer Ron Hughs who plans to turn the building into a new student high rise by fall 2012.

Throughout its tenure at that corner, Village Corner was a witness to the many changes on campus and South University Avenue. When it first opened in 1970, there was a movie theater down the street along with several gift and clothing stores, according to Scheer.

“It became restaurant row for a while, but it’s come back with a little more variety,” Scheer said.

During the last few days of business, Village Corner emptied out as students bought the last of the store’s toiletries, sodas and bags of pretzels and chips. The store also held a 20-percent off sale that attracted customers and helped the shop get rid of its excess inventory.

“(We sold) things like crazy and rented some storage for our alcohol beverages before we get set up in the new place,” Scheer said.

While the mainstay left the location it has held for more than four decades, Scheer said he doesn’t plan to stay closed for long and hopes to have a new location in Ann Arbor set and open within eight weeks.

He added that he wants the new location to have more available street parking since a lack of parking has been a major complaint from customers throughout the years.

Scheer said he has had some employees who have been with him since Village Corner’s start, and they will hopefully move to the new store with him. He added that wherever the new location will be, the store’s name will not change.

Scheer also created an e-mail list for customers to keep them updated on the details of the new store. According to Scheer, customers lamented the fact that there will no longer be a convenience store in the area.

“We had a lot of customers say ‘Well, where do I go now?’” Scheer said.

In addition to offering shampoo, chips and other typical convenience store items, Village Corner was a go-to spot in the area for wine, according to employee Jorge Lopez-Chavez. He added that patrons who have grown accustomed to buying wine at the store were sad to find out it is temporarily closing.

“A lot of people have been asking us where we are going, what is going on,” said Lopez-Chavez, who was in charge of buying the store's wine. “We hear comments of all kinds, but one of my favorites is when people say they’ll never find another store like this one.”

But, throughout last week, many students didn’t realize the shop was closing until they went inside and noticed the lack of inventory.

“It’s been busy, but it’s interesting how much people don’t notice we’re moving,” Village Corner employee Peter Brzezinski said.

The store officially closed its doors around 1 p.m. on Saturday, after a busy morning due to the annual Mudbowl game at Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, which took place about one block from Village Corner.

Students who frequent the store said they were sad to hear the store is closing because it offers a wide array of snacks and drinks in a convenient location.

Engineering sophomore Greg Rocys went to Village Corner on Friday with his friend Domenic Delegato, a senior in the College of Engineering. As the two bought drinks and snack bars they expressed their disappointment in the store’s move.

“It’s about the convenience factor because we live right across the street, and we come here for late-night snacks and stuff,” Rocys said.