Bellingham-based grocery chain Haggen announced Wednesday that it has started the process of converting former Albertsons and Safeway stores to the Haggen brand.
The first conversion will start at a former Albertsons in Monroe on Thursday after midnight.
KIRO 7 was at the Monroe location, which closed at 6 p.m. Wednesday. The store will be closed until Saturday morning for re-branding, although the pharmacy will remain open.
The transition in Monroe caught some shoppers off guard, like Gail Bernethy, who arrived right after the store closed.
"Can I just run in and get the few things I need to make my dinner," Bernethy asked.
Officials with the company said that 146 stores in five states would be converted.
After the transition of the Monroe store, 18 stores will be switched during February and March, and the final seven Washington stores are scheduled to change over in June.
Here is the tentative schedule of the Washington stores:
February
- Monroe (19881 SR 2; former Albertsons)
- Port Angeles (114 E Lauridsen Blvd.; former Albertsons)
- Wenatchee (1128 N Miller; former Albertsons)
- Shoreline (15332 Aurora Ave. North; former Safeway)
March
- Walla Walla (450 N Wilbur Ave.; former Albertsons)
- Everett (7601 Evergreen Way; former Safeway)
- Snohomish (17520 SR 9 Southeast; former Albertsons)
- Renton(4300 NE 4th; former Safeway)
- Oak Harbor (31565 SR 20 #1; former Safeway)
- Silverdale (2222 NW Bucklin Hill Road; former Albertsons)
- Port Orchard (3355 Bethel Road Southeast; former Safeway)
- Redmond (3925 236th Ave. North; former Albertsons)
- Burien (12725 First Ave. South; former Albertsons)
- Gig Harbor (4831 Point Fosdick Dr. Northwest; former Safeway)
- Puyallup (11012 Canyon Rd. East; former Albertsons)
- Olympia (3520 Pacific Ave. Southeast; former Albertsons)
- Tacoma (111 S. 38th Street; former Albertsons)
- Tacoma(8611 Steilacoom Blvd. Southwest; former Albertsons)
- Tacoma(15805 Pacific Ave. South; former Safeway)
June
- Seattle (17171 Bothell Way Northeast; former Albertsons)
- Burien (15840 1st Ave. South; former Albertsons)
- Renton(14215 SE Petrovitsky Rd.; former Albertsons)
- Bremerton (2900 Wheaton Way; former Albertsons)
- Milton (2800 Milton Way; former Albertsons)
- Federal Way (31009 Pacific Hwy South; former Albertsons)
- Liberty Lake (1233 N. Liberty Lake Road; former Safeway)
Eighty-three stores in California, 20 Oregon stores, and Nevada and Arizona stores will be converted throughout March, April and May.
“This momentous acquisition is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rapidly expand the Haggen brand across the West Coast,” said John Caple, chairman of the Haggen board of directors and partner at Comvest Partners, a private investment firm that owns the majority share of Haggen. “Now that the deal has closed, our team is focused on seamlessly converting these 146 stores to the Haggen brand over the next five months.”
The company said that during the transformation, each store’s employees will be invited to become Haggen employees.
Union leaders told KIRO 7 Haggen has assumed Albertsons' labor contract and that workers will keep their pay, benefits, pension and seniority.
KIRO
