Haggen, in a press release posted in August, made an announcement that its management has decided to sell some of its stores in several locations including in Nevada, California, Arizona, Washington and Oregon. The heads of the company reasoned that they came to this decision because they would like to further improve the business as well as beef up its competitive side.
"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 Bill Shaner, CEO of Haggen Pacific Southwest.
"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," he added.
It was also divulged that the majority of the stores that will be affected in the closure or sale were previously purchased from Albertsons. It can be recalled that in the first quarter of this year, Haggen bought 146 stores from the newly merged Albertsons and Safeway company.
The purchase suddenly turned the business into a big grocery chain -- from just 18 stores and 16 pharmacies, it instantly expanded to 164 grocery outlets and 106 pharmacies. However, many of the rebranded stores did not do well and this caused issues within the company. As a result, Haggen had to lay off workers and trim down store hours.
In an article in San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Phil Lempert, a Santa Monica-based analyst of consumer behavior and marketing trends, shared what he thinks of Haggen's move to sell several stores.
"I think what they are trying to do is get rid of as much as they can as quickly as they can. They are putting aside whatever emotion they have and are letting the lawyers handle it. But if this doesn't happen ... it's possible that Haggen will go under," Lempert said.
The grocer filed for bankruptcy on Sept. 8 and auctioned off a number of stores. The bidding proposals were submitted to the Bankruptcy Court in Delaware on Nov. 13. The court subsequently affirmed the sale of 47 stores and 11 of these are located in Washington.
Likewise, Bellingham Herald reported that Haggen held an auction and there were 55 bidders. The amount of sale from the bids amounted to over $47 million. Haggen sought the approval for purchase agreement to complete the transactions, and on Nov. 25, it received a go signal.
Now, Albertsons is taking back 30 of their stores and the rest are being sold to Smart & Final, Tawa, Inc. Sprouts Farmer's Market, Good Food Holdings, and more.
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