Haggen stores in Port
Orchard and Gig Harbor could be bought back by Albertsons,
according to court documents.
Haggen is auctioning off dozens of stores this week as part of a bankruptcy reorganization, and Albertsons has emerged as a bidder.
Documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware Friday show Albertsons entered bids for 12 stores in Washington, including former Safeway stores in Port Orchard and Gig Harbor.
Albertsons submitted a baseline bid of $200,000 for the store in Port Orchard, and $500,000 for Gig Harbor.
No baseline bids were entered for Haggen stores in East Bremerton or Silverdale, which were formerly Albertsons.
Eighteen Washington Haggen stores will be auctioned Wednesday, according to documents. A hearing will be held Nov. 24 to review the auction results.
Albertsons is bidding on stores it was forced to divest to meet antitrust requirements as it completed a merger with Safeway this year.
Haggen scooped up 146 of those stores, including three in Kitsap County and one in Gig Harbor. The Bellingham-based grocery chain filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September and later announced it would sell or close all but 37 “core stores.”
Haggen stores in Kitsap are slated to close by the end of November and have begun to liquidate inventory. Many Haggen employees have already been rehired at Albertsons and Safeway stores, with permission from the Federal Trade Commission.
Supermarket News and the Seattle Times have more on the Haggen auctions this week. You can read all of my Haggen blog posts here.
UPDATE: Supermarket News reported Tuesday that Haggen will auction off all its stores. This includes the “core stores” Haggen initially said it would keep, and the chain’s original stores in the Bellingham area.
Does Port Orchard really need 3 Albertsons? Or are they just looking to put Safeway back? Stil….doesnt that create some sort of monopoly if Albertsons owns 3 out of 6 grocery stores in Port Orchard?
I will definitely be looking into the antitrust issues involved with Albertsons buying back stores it divested. I imagine they would need FTC approval.
If you truly want to investigate monopolies and anti-trust issues, I suggest that you follow the money UP the supply chain. See- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Grocers
so them owning 3 of 5 is better?
Bring Safeway back at the Sedgwick location. Albertson’s has gutted Safeway. How did this merger benefit the consumer?
That’s a good question. I’m taking my shopping to WinCo from Now On.
I think the Haggen’s I think that these Grocery companies should be held accountable. And not be allowed to operate like this any longer.
It is such a shame to see this happening. Larry’s Markets suffered the same Chap 11 fate, about 10 years ago. I feel for those less fortunate employees that have not found work. Somewhere between Haggen’s , Albertsons and Safeway. Someone should be held accountable. This is the Ugly side of Capitalism.
The whole Haggens buyout was a puzzle to me. They intended to pay higher wages to employees, thereby raising prices on food. It was obvious to me that former Albertson’s shoppers would take their business elsewhere, as they did. Kitsap County liberals, hypocrites that they are, don’t put their money where there mouths are.
Yeah it’s those darn liberals who are messing things up. You go ahead and pay $6.00 a gallon for milk and let those liberals pay less than 3. You sure will show them who is smarter.
What on earth are you talking about? Are you pretending that Haggen’s prices are lower than other grocery stores? Because if you are, obviously, there aren’t many people sharing that fantasy with you.
I’d prefer they buy back the one in Bremerton they closed down, as there isn’t really a grocery store to anyone in E Bremerton but for Fred Meyer and I REALLY don’t want another vacant, empty building in that area…..
And how, exactly, are “Kitsap County Liberals” responsible for Haggan’s originally expanding to the stores they did and then for not shopping there when their prices were higher than other places? For example, the base price of a bottle of wine at the Gig Harbor store was selling for about $25-30 MORE than the winery’s website had it listed for.
I wasn’t aware we were able to influence corporate policy in regards to a chain expanding and then doing so too fast and being unable to sustain itself so that it had to declare bankruptcy.
I guess we were responsible for Boston market closing down all stores in the PNW as well.
Make a wincos we need another low cost store .
After 27 yrs. with Albertsons my wife was sold to Hagens with no say in the matter what so ever when they sold there Silverdale store. She was told that hagens would keep her employed for 2 yrs. min. and that she had no choice! I don’t know most Hagen employee’s have been rehired or got jobs but i know after a life time of hard work and dedication my wife was kicked to the curb and is jobless at the end of this month. This is so wrong and all parties involved in this B.S. should be held responsible. The whole ordeal is fishy at best and the truth needs to be told. And my wife needs to be given her job back by those who screwed her out of her position when she only needed 3 more yrs. for 30 yrs. and retirement. So i guess this is how Albertsons cares about hard work and loyalty and Hagens pulled some fast s*** it’s not right. I hope she can find some way to finish what she started 27 YEARS ago she deserves it. Shame on you Albertsons & Hagens is putting it mildly.
I think people need to settle down and realize that there would still be only two stores in Port Orchard. I believe the plan would be to close the store on Oleny as it much older than the Hagens location and move to the larger facility.
If Albertsons aquired the old Safeway store in Port Orchard, they will probably just shelf it. 3 stores in less then a few miles is rediculaus, but keeping it out of the hands of another retailer is valuable.
it is not Albertsons fault that Haggen’s tried to get too big too fast and went bankrupt. The Gig Harbor and Lund locations will just revert back to safeway and we will be where we were before they were forced to divest.