West Sound Printing,
Inc. of Silverdale filed for
Chapter 7 bankruptcy last week.
The Clear Creek Road company listed $51,000 in assets and $381,000 in liabilities in a petition filed Jan. 29 with U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Western Washington.
West Sound Printing provided a wide variety of printed products, along with binding and design services, according to its website.
State records indicate the business has been inactive since early January.
Haggen has left the county.
The grocery chain’s store in the Port Orchard Bethel Junction shopping center was closed and cleaned out last week. Haggen shuttered its stores in East Bremerton and Silverdale at the end of November.
I haven’t
heard exactly when the Port Orchard location shut
down. If you happen to know, please drop a comment below.
Unlike the Bremerton and Silverdale Haggens, the Port Orchard store already has a new owner in place.
Albertsons LLC. bought the location in a bankruptcy auction last month and plans to return it to the Safeway brand. A timeline for the reopening has not been announced.
The three Kitsap County stores were among 146 Haggen acquired from Albertsons and Safeway early this year, as the two mega-grocers completed a merger.
The East Bremerton and Silverdale stores were previously operated by Albertsons. The Port Orchard store was a Safeway.
Haggen’s bold expansion ultimately flopped. The company filed for bankruptcy reorganization in September and held auctions to begin selling off assets.
The Bellingham Herald reports Haggen will try to sell the remainder of its stores, including its original Whatcom County locations, at an auction scheduled for February.
Haggen was in business in Kitsap for less than 9 months:
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.
Click
here for our story on the proposed Haggen store
closures.
Update: Citing bankruptcy court documents, the Bellingham Herald reports Haggen plans to close stores in East Bremerton, Gig Harbor and Silverdale, in addition to the Port Orchard store.
The Seattle Times has a map of proposed store closures here. The closure plan requires court approval.
Haggen plans to close most of its newly-acquired stores and regroup around 37 “core stores” in the Northwest, according to a Thursday news release.
The Seattle Times reports Haggen has selected about 14 Washington stores for closure, including the former Safeway in Port Orchard. Haggen also operates former Albertsons stores in Silverdale and East Bremerton.
In an email, a Haggen representative said a full list of stores slated for closure would be released at 5 p.m. Thursday.
Affected employees will be given 60-day notice before their stores are closed, according to the release.
The reorganization is part of an ongoing bankruptcy for the Bellingham-based grocer. Haggen acquired 146 former Albertsons and Safeway locations across the west early this year but struggled to compete in some of its new markets.
The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Sept. 9.
If you’re a Haggen employee and want to share your perspective on the situation, please contact me at tad.sooter@kitsapsun.com or 360-475-3783.
The full news release is posted below: Continue reading
Nary a day passes
without some fresh revelation on the travails of Haggen,
the Bellingham grocer that grew from 18 locations to
164 by gobbling up stores divested in the
Albertsons/Safeway merger.
To recap, Haggen filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week. Haggen also sued Albertsons for $1 billion, claiming the grocery giant sabotaged its expansion. Haggen operates three Kitsap County stores in Bremerton, Port Orchard and Silverdale.
Business reporters have been sifting through the bankruptcy filings to gain some insight into the future of the troubled grocer. Here are some recent Haggen headlines:
A deal that
promised to put tiny grocery chain Haggen on the fast track to becoming a
regional power has instead resulted in a train wreck.
The Bellingham-based grocer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Tuesday, saying it would sell off assets and reorganize around its profitable stores.
The move came after Haggen announced it would close or sell 27 of the 146 stores it acquired from Albertsons and Safeway (the closures didn’t include any of the three Kitsap County Haggen stores). Haggen also sued Albertsons for $1 billion claiming the grocery giant sabotaged Haggen’s expansion effort.
All of this leaves Haggen’s roughly 11,000 employees in an uncertain position. It’s likely more stores will be sold off as part of the reorganization.
Hours have been cut at some Puget Sound stores, the Seattle Times reported. The company owes employees $10 million in unpaid salaries, accrued wages and overtime pay, according to the Puget Sound Business Journal.
According to statements circulated Thursday by employee union UFCW 21, Haggen workers found out about the bankruptcy filing from news reports.
Below are two statements from UFCW 21 responding to the Haggen bankruptcy. The first was distributed to the media, the second was sent to employees by union president Todd Crosby:
“For years, hard-working men and women in grocery stores at Haggen’s have shown their commitment to their job, their co-workers, the community, and this union family.
“As difficult as this bankruptcy process is, our message to Haggen is simple – we expect Haggen to do what is right by their hard-working employees and their families. Haggen’s must never forget that these incredible men and women who do the work are the heart and soul of their stores.
“They are not numbers, but real people whose work and dedication should be honored. Looking ahead, our union family will do everything in our power to protect the livelihoods of every member who is and has been dedicated to meeting the needs of every Haggen’s customer.”
And the message from Crosby: Continue reading
The East Bremerton American Legion post, Poulsbo’s Courtesy Ford dealership, a historic Bainbridge house and several industrial properties were among the notable commercial real estate sales of January.
Overall, 17 parcels changed hands for a total of $14.11 million last month, according to assessor’s data. Here’s a look at a few high-profile transactions:
Sale
date: Jan. 7
Assessed value: $637,140
Sold by: 2010 1 CRE WA Retail, LLC., to The Filipino American Association of Kitsap
Description: A 9,000-square-foot building on 0.7 acres off Sheridan Road, just east of Wheaton Way in Bremerton.
Notes: The future of the property has been uncertain since American Legion Post 68 went bankrupt in 2011. Josh Farley will be following up on the Filipino American Association’s plans.
Sale
date: Jan. 5
Assessed value: About $2.3 million
Sold by: CBRA Inc. Custodial Receiver to Christopher and Laurie Morgan
Description: Three parcels totaling 4 acres, and a 40,000-square-foot former auto showroom on Viking Way in Poulsbo.
Notes: The family that owns American Building and Roofing on Viking Way bought the former Ford dealership from a court appointed receiver. Hudson Auto is leasing a portion of the property to expand its Poulsbo used car dealership. The Hern family closed Courtesy Ford in 2011.
The Kitsap Mall
RadioShack store could be a casualty of the
company’s bankruptcy filing.
The Silverdale location was among 2,000 listed on a store closure list posted on RadioShack’s corporate website (PDF). The electronics retail giant filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week and has already begun liquidating stores.
Kitsap’s other two RadioShack stores (Wheaton Way and Bethel Corridor) are not on the closure list.
McKinley Electric Inc. of Kingston filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy last month.
The company listed $172,000 in assets and $709,000 in liabilities on a voluntary petition submitted May 19 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court Western Washington District. McKinley owed $310,000 to the Internal Revenue Service, according to the filing.
The business phone for McKinley is no longer active. The company employed more than 20 electricians, according to its website.
Also emerging in bankruptcy court this spring was Boulder Glen LLC. of Bainbridge Island. Boulder Glen filed for Chapter 11 reorganization on April 25, and re-filed May 16. The company listed between $1 million and $10 million in assets and the same in liabilities.
Directors of Boulder Glen are defendants in a foreclosure proceeding related to a $700,000 loan issued by now defunct Westsound Bank, according to Kitsap County Superior Court documents.
You can read about other recent Kitsap bankruptcy filings here.
A Silverdale truck bedliner company has filed for bankruptcy protection.
Line-X Silverdale filed for a Chapter 11 reorganization Thursday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court Western District of Washington. The Provost Road company listed $500,000 to $1 million in assets and the same amount in liabilities in its voluntary petition.
Listed debts included federal and county taxes. The company president did not return a call for comment Friday.
