Smithfield, R.I. — "Your favorite store" is closing.

Benny's is announcing that the southern New England retailer is closing its 31 stores.

The announcement Friday afternoon says the Bromberg family, which owns the chain, is retiring. The company says the decision to close was "strongly influenced by the changing face of retailing today and the dominance of online retailers like Amazon and others."

Arnold Bromberg says the landscape "shifted in a way that makes it almost impossible" for small, family-owned chains like Benny's to reasonably compete in the future.

He says they want to close in an "orderly, structured way." The company will begin winding down immediately and will close by the end of 2017.

The 93-year-old chain has 715 employees that will lose their jobs in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut. A store in Waterford closed early this year, but locations remained in Norwich, Groton and Westerly.

At the Norwich Benny's, regular customers said they were upset at the announcement. One woman, who did not want to give her name, said she felt like crying but didn't want to do that in front of the store manager.

The manager and other employees said they were not allowed to talk about the pending closure. “Clearance” signs hung throughout the store, as workers were transitioning from summer to fall stock. Displays of decorative scarecrows, Halloween candy and fall décor items were being moved to the front, while coolers and lawn chairs were marked for summer clearance in the rear sections of the store.

In the front parking lot, Alex Torres of Norwich poured antifreeze he just bought at the store into his car radiator. He said he's not an “everyday shopper” at Benny's but always finds what he wants there and usually at a good price.

“I'm sorry to hear it's closing down,” Torres said. “It's a nice store, good prices. I wish they would hand it over to someone who would keep the name.”

Day Staff Writer Claire Bessette contributed to this report.