Haggen to close, liquidate 100 more stores

[marshd1000]

I could see the legacy Haggen stores that have been doing well, to keep their name. I could be wrong. Plus Oak Harbor as it is in NW Washington. But the other former Albertson/Safeway acquisitions could very well revert back to one of those brands. But I do not see the Haggen name expanding beyond where it is now and compete with Main & Vine.

[pseudo3d]

One reason I don't see Haggen surviving is it's spread through two Albertsons division, Seattle and Portland, so one will take over and operate stores in the other region (best case scenario). I honestly don't see Albertsons keeping the Haggen name in all likelihood...they'll probably convert the best and close the rest, moving jobs to other stores to appease the unions. I think they should sell stores to pay down debt, though.

EDIT: What probably happened was that Albertsons wasn't the highest bidder, the banks were, but the unions rejected the bank takeover because they weren't planning on running Haggen as a supermarket chain and were going to basically break it apart.

By the way, as it stands now, does Haggen even have a private brand anymore?

[marshd1000]

I was in the 5 Corners Burien Haggen about 2 weeks ago and I still see Haggen brands there. But while the Haggen name may possibly be too damaged, I can't help to think that the concept, if executed correctly could still be used. Could a Market Street Northwest banner be appropriate for some of these stores? I think in places where Haggen has been successful, like in Whatcom County, it would be a downgrade to make them all Safeway stores, even though there are really nice Safeways. I also think of the Woodinville store, which serves a very upscale community as another example.

[klkla]

Albertson's hasn't been in a hurry to re-banner stores they've acquired and I would assume they would keep Haggen as an upscale brand in the Pacific Northwest. The wildcard would be the amount of damage done to the brand's reputation in the last year. We don't know the extent of that.

This also helps explain why the settled the lawsuit for such a small amount so quickly.

[arizonaguy]

Albertson's hasn't been in a hurry to re-banner stores they've acquired and I would assume they would keep Haggen as an upscale brand in the Pacific Northwest. The wildcard would be the amount of damage done to the brand's reputation in the last year. We don't know the extent of that.

This also helps explain why the settled the lawsuit for such a small amount so quickly.

They won't expand Haggen out of the Pacific Northwest. If they go for an upscale brand in Southern California, Nevada, or Arizona it would either be Pavilions (with a noticeable difference between it and a regular Vons) or Market Street. In Phoenix, at least, a Market Street concept would work nice as competition for Fry's "Signature Stores" or even Fry's latest Marketplace stores.

[klkla]

They won't expand Haggen out of the Pacific Northwest. If they go for an upscale brand in Southern California, Nevada, or Arizona it would either be Pavilions (with a noticeable difference between it and a regular Vons) or Market Street.

I agree. Here in SoCal it would make sense to start applying what they're learning from Market Street (indirectly) and what they will learn from Safeway in Florida (directly) and apply them to Pavilions and to 'make Pavilions great again'.

[arizonaguy]

They won't expand Haggen out of the Pacific Northwest. If they go for an upscale brand in Southern California, Nevada, or Arizona it would either be Pavilions (with a noticeable difference between it and a regular Vons) or Market Street.

I agree. Here in SoCal it would make sense to start applying what they're learning from Market Street (indirectly) and what they will learn from Safeway in Florida (directly) and apply them to Pavilions and to 'make Pavilions great again'.

If the company survives as an actual supermarket company (as opposed to a collection of failing supermarkets + United), I can see where they may institute a spectrum of formats in a given market. There's the potential to convert some stores to Amigos (although in many markets they've already pulled out of ethnic neighborhoods), retain most stores with a "standard" format, and apply an upscale / specialty banner such as Haggen, Market Street, Pavilions, etc.

While some of the ex-Haggen's that they're re-acquiring in the SW are probably being re-acquired to keep competition out, I also suspect that many of these stores may allow for a springboard of operating a "standard" and an "upscale" banner/format in the same market.

[pseudo3d]

They're not going to (or at least, shouldn't) expand Market Street (or Amigos) outside of the United division, just like they won't expand Pavilions outside of SoCal.

All but seven of the Haggen core stores are in Washington, so control should shift over to the Seattle division. Using Haggen as an upscale brand is risky given all that's happened to it. It's too small to run as a separate "division", so what should *probably* happen is just letting them sit as Haggen stores for now and convert them at a later date, possibly keeping the bakery under a branded Haggen program, and slowly convert the stores to an ABS Cos. store later on depending on the market. They should listen to their customers and don't make employees re-apply for their own jobs.

EDIT: As for the SW stores, again, it's a little different situation because unlike in the Northwest, the union situation is different. Not sure what their plan is down there.

[marshd1000]

Remember, when it comes to the "core" Haggen stores, there are the "legacy" Haggen stores and ones that they kept from the acquisition. I contend that the "legacy" stores should be kept as a upscale concept. But if the Haggen name is too damaged. then maybe that should go away. But with the "Signature" private label now being used, maybe it could be re-bannered as ""Signature Markets"? But the the acquired stores could revert to their original banners.

In related news, I was again at the 5 Corners Burien Haggen to do some shopping and to ask questions. Last fall, when Haggen was preparing for its auction, it declared some stores to be "core" stores that they would keep. Here in Washington, the company decided to put put up two of those stores up for sale but would keep them open if they did not sell. So the 5 Corners Burien and Federal Way stores ended up being those stores. When the auction happened, the 5 Corners Burien was sold back to Albertsons and the Federal Way store did not sell. But in the case of the Burien store, the owners of the strip mall that the store is in, blocked that sale as they heard that Albertsons was going to buy it to keep the store "dark" or used for something other than grocery.

Now that the remainder of Haggen is going to be part of Albertsons, I found out that these particular stores are not part of the sale to Albertsons.....they are going to close. While Kroger has been hesitant to expand, I think the Federal Way location could be a good location for QFC. The best case scenario for the Burien store would be for it to become a nice independent store or a Puget Consumers Coop. I wonder if a 365 by Whole Foods could work at that location?

[klkla]

They're not going to (or at least, shouldn't) expand Market Street (or Amigos) outside of the United division, just like they won't expand Pavilions outside of SoCal.

This statement certainly makes sense... but then again who would have thought that they would open three Safeway stores in Florida?

I think Albertsons uses a dart board to make decisions about branding and decor packages, e.t.c... They're making a lot of decisions but there doesn't seem to be any strategy.