THOMASVILLE, N.C. (WGHP) — A Dollar General has closed its doors after it was vandalized. Now leaving people living nearby without a store for weeks.

The Dollar General on Old Greensboro Road in Thomasville is only closed temporarily, but it has already been closed for more than a week.

According to employees at Dollar General, the store has been closed since May 23, after someone broke into it.

The person allegedly entered the store through the ceiling and later sprayed a fire extinguisher until it was empty, covering more than a dozen aisles in the store.

Store employees said the store is closed until the fire extinguisher powder can be cleaned up, and items covered in it can be disposed of, due to the potential health hazard.

“I hate that they were vandalized, too. I mean, it’s seems to be going on everywhere. It’s a shame they’re losing business and people are disappointed that they can’t do their shopping.” said Linda Foss, a customer.

Many people have continued to come to the Dollar General, not knowing it is closed for an unknown time.

“It’s the only store that I’ve seen coming in this way. I come from Kernersville, come down 109 through Wallburg,” said Foss.

A man who lives within walking distance of the Dollar General on Friendship-Ledford Road has lived there for 39 years and said he remembers when the store was built.

“Very hesitant at first that we were going to have a major store this close in this area, but it has been very handy,” said Larry Talley, Thomasville resident.

He said the closure will be hard for many people who depend on it to shop for their households, saying there aren’t many nearby stores.

“For the community it’s very convenient, because the next closest stores that we could go to for things would be like Food Lion, which is probably three, five miles south of here or up to the Wallburg area, which is another probably six miles that way,” Talley said.

Regarding the incident and the closure, Dollar General did not provide a comment and directed FOX8 to contact law enforcement.

The Davidson County Sheriff’s Office confirmed a person was arrested for the vandalism.

The incident raises safety concerns for those living near the Dollar General.

It’s very concerning,” said Talley. “We have had a great deal of problems right around this area. It’s not quite as safe and comfortable as it was when we built here in 1984.”

Dollar General employees say the store is expected to remain closed for another 3 weeks until it is cleaned up and considered safe for shoppers.