Haggen to close Los Osos grocery store
Haggen Food and Pharmacy will be closing its Los Osos store within the next 60 days as the embattled grocery chain attempts to "streamline and improve operations."
A store manager for the Los Osos store, located at 1330 Los Osos Valley Road, said she did not have any more information on the closure at this time. A specific closing date and what will happen to the location's current employees is unknown.
The grocery chain announced Friday that it will close 27 stores in Arizona, California, Oregon and Washington "in order to continue to improve its business and strengthen its competitive position." The company has not determined how many jobs will be affected as a result of the closures.
“Haggen’s goal going forward is to ensure a stable, healthy company that will benefit our customers, associates, vendors, creditors, stakeholders as well as the communities we serve,” said Haggen CEO Pacific Southwest, Bill Shaner, in a news release. “By making the tough choice to close and sell some stores, we will be able to invest in stores that have the potential to thrive under the Haggen banner.”
Most of the stores being closed or sold were acquired as part of the transaction in which Albertsons LLC and Safeway divested 146 stores to the Washington-based grocery chain, including six in San Luis Obispo County.
Through the acquisition, Haggen expanded from 18 stores with 16 pharmacies and 2,000 to 164 stores and 106 pharmacies employing more than 10,000 people, according to a company news release.
The grocery chain has come under fire in recent months after it announced it would lay off employees and cut worker hours at many of its newly-acquired stores. Albertsons has also since filed a lawsuit against Haggen, accusing the grocer of fraud in failing to pay more than $36 million as part of the acquisition.
The five other Haggen locations in San Luis Obispo County will remain open at this time, though the company warned that more stores could be closed or sold in the coming weeks.
See the list: Which Haggen stores are slated to close »
This story was originally published August 14, 2015 at 3:28 PM with the headline "Haggen to close Los Osos grocery store."