Court OKs bids for former Haggen stores in Tri-Counties
This Haggen store in Santa Barbara is among 24 that are closing in the Tri-Counties.
A Delaware bankruptcy court has approved six of the original seven bids for former Haggen stores throughout the Tri-Counties.
The Washington-based grocery chain announced on Nov. 25 that the court approved the sale of 47 of its 164 stores.
Pending successful deals with landlords, Albertsons will take over its former location at 1500 N. H Street in Lompoc and 163 S. Turnpike in Goleta. Sprouts Farmers Market acquired the 175 N. Fairview location in Goleta and a Simi Valley store at 2800 Cochran St.
Idaho-based Albertsons operates around 2,200 stores in more than 33 states while Arizona-based Sprouts has 200-plus stores across 13 states.
Commerce-based Super A Foods, which operates eight locations throughout Southern California, will take over 2400 Las Posas Road in Camarillo. Stater Brothers, which has 168 stores mostly throughout Southern California, acquired 660 E. Los Angeles Ave. in Simi Valley.
Roxy’s Market’s bid for the Mesa location at 2010 Cliff Drive in Santa Barbara was removed because the landlord is seeking a larger national tenant. Roxy’s has two smaller stores in Colorado and Montana.
Haggen already sold 36 of its stores in California and Nevada to Smart & Final and Gelson’s Markets for $92 million. The high-end Encino-based grocer Gelson’s is buying one store in Thousand Oaks while Commerce-based grocer Smart & Final purchased nine stores throughout the Tri-Counties.
Haggen filed for bankruptcy in September after it botched its expansion from 18 to 164 stores. It acquired 146 Albertsons and Safeway stores throughout California, Arizona and Nevada after antitrust regulators forced the merging supermarket giants’ to divest them.
Haggen is still looking for buyers for most of its remaining stores. The company said that it also plans to auction off its 32 “core” locations in Washington and Oregon in January.
• Contact Alex Kacik at [email protected].
