Wheatsville Co-op capped off a 45-year-run in Central Austin on Sunday when it shut down its Guadalupe location due to declining sales, rising rent and uncertainty about construction in the area.

“It’s been really difficult to remain a sustainable grocery store here as far as the economic pressure that a lot of businesses are facing,” Wheatsville general manager Tanya Carney said.

The store wound down operations not just by mourning, but also with celebration.

Dozens of people gathered in the parking lot to watch Mangiasaurus, an 800-pound Godzilla-like sculpture, get pulled down from the roof of the store and hauled off to Wheatsville’s South Lamar location.

“I think it’s a good show for the community,” Trevor Moore said as he watched the dino get loaded into a truckbed. “These things mean something.”

The monster first arrived at Wheatsville in 2007 when Mangia Pizza, which had a green dinosaur mascot, relocated and needed a place to put the sculpture.

The co-op grocery offered its roof as a temporary home but when Mangia Pizza closed, the dinosaur remained and became a beloved landmark in Central Austin.

“You have to reflect on what it means to have a giant dinosaur that was removed from a pizza place, placed on this grocery store, and now is being moved to their other location,” Moore said. “That’s symbolic of something.”

For its final day, Wheatsville Guadalupe served dinosaur-shaped cookies, marked all nonalcoholic items 30% off, and offered anybody who bought a T-shirt free coffee at their South Lamar location for a year.

“Just think about how much you spend on coffee every year,” longtime employee Caleb Morton said as he checked out customers at the register.

Wheatsville originally announced plans to close its Guadalupe location in 2024, so the store’s closure wasn’t a surprise to Morton or anybody else on staff.

“We kind of got two years to process it,” he said Sunday, “so I’ll probably cry today, but I’ve had my time to process.”

Employees working at the Guadalupe location were offered jobs at Wheatsville South Lamar.

“It’s not like we’ve lost our job,” Morton said, “just moving from our childhood home to another home.”