36 LOCAL VONS & ALBERTSONS STORES TO BE BOUGHT BY HAGGEN

Updated January 8, 2015 with more details from Haggen.

January 7, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) – Over two dozen Albertsons and Vons grocery stores in our region are being bought by Haggen Food & Pharmacy, a small grocery chain headquartered in Washington State and focused on healthy, natural and gourmet foods.

It’s all part of a 146-store acquisition by Haggen, which currently owns just 18 stores.  The Federal Trade Commission, as part of approving a Safeway-Albertson’s merger, is requiring the two large chains to divest the stores now being sold.  Safeway currently owns Vons, along with other brands.

Haggen’s CEO Bill Shaner has described the chain as “somewhere between a Vons and a Whole Foods.”  For the past 80 years, Haggen has sourced much of its foods from local farmers, ranches, and fisheries. The stores also carry--cheers—locally brewed beers as well as artisan cheeses, breads made from scratch, and natural health products, along with offering an in-store deli, pharmacy, fair trade and organic items.

Asked if they will use local farm sources in San Diego County, Haggen spokesperson Deborah T. Pleva responded via e-mail, "Yes. We believe sourcing local, fresh products will work as well as CA, AZ, and NEV as it has in WA and OR. We have hired a CEO for the Pacific Southwest region to help us establish relationships with local farmers, ranchers and food producers in those areas. We really do believce in building the local, sustainable food economy in every state."  Local farmers or other food producers who want to contact the company directly can do so through its website at www.haggen.com, Pleva added.

The majority of Haggen shares are owned by Comvest Partners, a private equity firm.

The $400 million purchase – an 811 percent expansion for Haggen—is expected to close early this year.  Shaner has said existing union contracts will be honored, UT San Diego reports.

The acquisition is expected to give Haggen greater buying power to make discounted purchases on larger quantities, though whether those savings will be passed on to customers remains to be seen.  The merger gives Hagen geographic expansion too, with newly acquired stores in Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.

Asked how the acquistion may impact grocery prices, Pleva said, "Haggen's prices are very reasonable, and what you'd expect for a company that pays its employees well, offers great benefits, gives back to the community, and sources its products locally whenever possible."

Haggen's 146 new stores are located in Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada and Arizona. The company plans to spend the first half of this year converting them to the Haggen banner. The employees at the purchased stores will be given the option to become Haggen employees, and any existing union contracts will be honored, Shaner said. 

"We warmly welcome these new employees," said Pleva. She added that stores will undergo interior and exterior signage changes but products will still be in the same areas

The stores being acquired by Haggen include several in East County and 25 in San Diego overall.  East County locations include four Vons stores: two in La Mesa on Lake Murray Blvd. and on Avocado, as well as two in El Cajon on Fletcher Parkway and Camino Canada. Haggen is also acquiring the Albertsons store in El Cajon on Broadway and in Santee on Magnolia.  In San Diego’s inland region, Albertsons stores on Tierrasanta Blvd. in Tierrasanta, Pomerado Road in Poway and Rancho Bernardo Road in Rancho Bernardo are also being sold to  Haggen.

Several other large natural foods oriented grocery stores have recently moved into East County.  Sprouts Farmers Market (owned by mega-chain Wild Oats) acquired Henry’s Markets (originally Boney’s) with locations in Lemon Grove, La Mesa, El Cajon and Santee.  Trader Joe’s in La Mesa does a brisk business.  Most recently, Barron’s Market opened up shop in Alpine.

The deal is expected to close by the end of January.  Stores will be converted from north to south. Pleva concluded, "The goal is to convert them all by July 4th, 2015."