Albertsons buys Kings

[marketreportblog]

The Kings in Chatham, NJ is set to close by September, along with one of the express Balducci's locations in Baltimore. The Chatham Kings was the first (as far as I know) to be reset with Albertsons-style price tags, although as a whole the Kings and Balducci's stores are still not particularly integrated with Albertsons overall. From my anecdotal observations, the Kings stores aren't doing very well; they're always empty but have a few loyal customers who don't mind the truly absurd prices. Albertsons has barely changed anything in the stores since they purchased them; none have gotten new decor or any significant changes other than a few new fixtures here and there, and new lighting in some. The Balducci's in McLean, VA is currently undergoing a renovation and expansion (also see here). Kings and Balducci's do, however, use the for U app. I wouldn't be surprised if more Kings are closed eventually.

[buckguy]

They only have the one store in Baltimore at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The staff probably prefers the Northeast Market, which is your basic public market. Despite some gentrification nearby, the Johns Hopkins medical campus is probably not the ideal location for this. The Roland Park area of Baltimore or Towson would make more sense.

[arizonaguy]

The Kings in Chatham, NJ is set to close by September, along with one of the express Balducci's locations in Baltimore. The Chatham Kings was the first (as far as I know) to be reset with Albertsons-style price tags, although as a whole the Kings and Balducci's stores are still not particularly integrated with Albertsons overall. From my anecdotal observations, the Kings stores aren't doing very well; they're always empty but have a few loyal customers who don't mind the truly absurd prices. Albertsons has barely changed anything in the stores since they purchased them; none have gotten new decor or any significant changes other than a few new fixtures here and there, and new lighting in some. The Balducci's in McLean, VA is currently undergoing a renovation and expansion (also see here). Kings and Balducci's do, however, use the for U app. I wouldn't be surprised if more Kings are closed eventually.

McLean, VA is interesting.

There was a Safeway nearby that closed in 2021 and I think the company views the Balducci's there as it's way to serve that same trade area. It appeared that the lease was expiring on the Safeway and Lidl probably offered more money to lease that site than Safeway was willing to pay, so they decided to invest in their Balducci's instead.

I wouldn't be surprised to see that Balducci's eventually become folded back into Safeway if the rest of the chain folds.

[marketreportblog]

McLean, VA is interesting.

There was a Safeway nearby that closed in 2021 and I think the company views the Balducci's there as it's way to serve that same trade area. It appeared that the lease was expiring on the Safeway and Lidl probably offered more money to lease that site than Safeway was willing to pay, so they decided to invest in their Balducci's instead.

I wouldn't be surprised to see that Balducci's eventually become folded back into Safeway if the rest of the chain folds.

That is really interesting, thanks for that. I think that's a reasonable prediction, and I think the same for a few of the Kings stores. If the rest of the chain is phased out, there are a few (like Millburn and Garwood) that would make sense within ACME. In fact, Food Trade News says (although I'm not sure this is true) that the original plan was to buy only a few of the Kings stores and actually convert them to ACME rather than keeping the Kings and Balducci's brands.

[storewanderer]

They are trying to run Haggen, Andronico's, Kings/Balduccis, and Pavilions sort of independently as "upscale" type brands.

It sort of feels like the only one of these concepts that shows any excitement or signs of growth is Pavilions.