Haggen, the West Coast regional grocer, says that in order to continue to improve its business and strengthen its competitive position, it has decided to close or sell a number of locations in California, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. Stores in Central Oregon are not slated to be closed. In Oregon two stores in Klamath Falls, one in Keizer, Medford and Tualatin will be.
Most of the stores being closed or sold were acquired as part of the transaction in which Albertsons LLC and Safeway divested 146 stores. Additional stores will be sold or closed in the future as part of Haggen’s right-sizing strategy. The company has not determined how many jobs will be affected as a result of the closures and sales.
“Haggen’s goal going forward is to ensure a stable, healthy company that will benefit our customers, associates, vendors, creditors, stakeholders as well as the communities we serve,” said Haggen CEO Pacific Southwest, Bill Shaner. “By making the tough choice to close and sell some stores, we will be able to invest in stores that have the potential to thrive under the Haggen banner.”
Through the acquisition, Haggen expanded from 18 stores with 16 pharmacies and 2,000 employees in the Pacific Northwest to 164 stores and 106 pharmacies employing more than 10,000 people in Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada and Arizona. Haggen’s original stores continue to perform well.
John Clougher, Haggen CEO Pacific Northwest, added, “Though Haggen has grown substantially, we remain committed to our core values and to support regional farms, ranches and food producers and strengthen the communities around our stores.”
Clougher and Shaner continued: “We’re grateful to have an outstanding team along with the support of our vendor partners, financial backers and friends in the community as we take our next steps forward. Looking ahead, we will work hard every single day to earn the trust and business of our guests. We will continue to support community events and donate to schools. We will offer our customers the freshest and most local products we can find and the genuine service they deserve. And we will engage in lively discussions about how we can improve. We will remain actively involved in making our communities even better, and we will stay committed to the values that have always guided Haggen.”
1 Comment
Let me get this straight. Haggen buys 146 Albertsons/Safeway stores and now has 8000 additional employees. That’s an average of about 55 employees per store. They are going to close or sell 27 stores, that’s approximately 1485 employees. If they are lucky, the employees of the stores that are sold will have jobs with the new owner. Like when the Albertsons/Safeway employees were continued on by Haggen. It hasn’t even been a year since the changeovers were completed and Haggen is already “streamlining”. So the fallout from this business decision will be how many unemployed?