The United States Postal Service will close its downtown Canton location later this year.

The branch on East Main Street will consolidate with the main USPS location on Riverstone Boulevard, said spokesman Michael Miles.

Miles said the postal service hopes to move from the space, which it leases from Cherokee County, by the end of September.

The downtown branch is a finance unit and only requires one or two clerks to operate it. Those employees, he said, would most likely move to the Riverstone location as well.

The downtown location has more than 600 post office boxes and those would be moved to the RiverStone location along with the consolidation.

“We are going to try to make this move as transparent as possible,” Miles said, adding the postal service has been looking for ways to reduce costs.

Miles noted USPS has seen a consistent decline in its customer base and the decision to close the downtown facility is an economic one.

“Customers aren’t using post offices like they once were,” he said. “The need for post offices isn’t as great as it once was.”

The postal service is eyeing “adjustments” at about two dozen other USPS locations outside Cherokee in north Georgia, Miles said.

USPS officials had been in talks with county leaders to come up with a way to reduce its lease payments for their space in the Jones Building.

The five-year lease, which requires USPS to pay the county $31,125 per year for 3,075 square feet of space, expires Oct. 14.

The county was previously in talks with the postal service’s real estate representative to reduce the cost of its payments by reducing the square footage, but the talks stalled.

County Manager Jerry Cooper did not want to comment on the planned closing until he heard directly from USPS.

USPS was in the process of using surveys to gauge how often customers use the facility.

The surveys were handed out to users with P.O. boxes in mid-April. More than 100 were returned within the two-week time frame.

The surveys gave the postal service a glimpse into what users primarily use the downtown location by asking questions about customers’ mailing habits, how often the visit the location and what’s their primary usage of the facility.

Miles added the results of the survey could be incorporated at the Riverstone location.

Canton Mayor Gene Hobgood lamented the news, but noted he hadn’t heard anything official from the postal service.

“We would hate to see them leave downtown,” he said, adding that city leaders hoped to offer the postal service adequate space for an adequate price to remain downtown.

Hobgood noted the downtown location is more convenient and is always less crowded than the RiverStone branch. He said there’s rarely a wait at the downtown office.

Retaining the post office’s presence downtown, he said, is “vital” to the city’s efforts to reenergize the central business district.

“But I guess everybody is being affected by the economy,” he said.