Albertsons shutting down underperforming stores; 19 in SoCal

Thursday, September 06, 2012

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Rob McMillan
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MORENO VALLEY, Calif. (KABC) -- The parent company for Albertsons announced plans Thursday to close more than two dozen stores, many of which are in Southern California.

Supervalu Inc. will be closing 27 underperforming Albertsons stores, including 19 in the Southland. Most of the affected stores are expected to be closed by December.

Officials say the closures will save the company $35 million over the next year and nearly $90 million over the next three years. The closures will mean an unknown number of layoffs. Albertsons says that number will depend on the union's collective bargaining agreement. The workers' union has not commented yet.

Wayne Sales, the president of Supervalu, released the following statement:

"These decisions are never easy because of the impact a store closure has on our team members, our customers, and our communities. Today's announcement reflects our commitment to move with a greater sense of urgency to reduce costs and improve shareholder value."

Customers at the Jurupa Valley location say they're disappointed. Not only will they have to find a new place to shop, they're also wondering what this means for the economy overall.

"It's getting worse. I would have thought we're passed that period of time with the crisis on everything. I thought everything was picking up and we're doing better. This is really sad news," said Albertsons shopper Elizabeth Berario.

But Albertson's employees and customers in Moreno Valley won't be the only ones affected by that location's closure. Kelly Chea, a worker at nearby KD's Donuts, says when the Albertons closes, it's going to hurt everyone in the plaza she works in.

"We get a lot of traffic from Albertsons customers you know, now they're closing, so hopefully everybody survives in this plaza," she said.

Closing Albertsons locations