Closed Albertsons divisions

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pseudo3d
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Closed Albertsons divisions

Post by pseudo3d »

I'm trying to figure out what Albertsons divisions (with offices) have closed prior to the 5-region consolidation (soon to be like 13 or so following incorporation of both New Albertsons and Safeway).

To date, this is what I have:
- The South division was the old Dallas-Fort Worth division, which was an odd beast: it was located on Oak Grove Road and now most of the warehouse is used by Associated Wholesale Grocers, but Albertsons still has offices.
- The Houston division was sold off in 2002 and presumably located in the distribution center, built in Katy (now used by 99c Grocers). The Houston Albertsons were built in the mid-1990s but included some early 1990s stores from the outskirts (like Conroe).
- There were three Albertsons in the Bryan-College Station area at their peak. The first opened in 1991 and was followed shortly after by a second in 1992 when American Stores dumped their Jewel-Osco division. However, in 2002, a third Albertsons opened, around the time the Houston ones closed. Somehow, the early 1990s Conroe ones were transferred to the Houston division and died there but the BCS ones survived--one until the three south of Dallas were sold.
- Albertsons pulled about two dozen stores all at once in the San Antonio market. Were they also part of the DFW division, since S.A. didn't seem to have a distribution center, and the New Braunfels store survived until 2011?
- The Florida division (based in Plant City, FL along with a warehouse also sold to a third party) seems to have been consolidated with the South division in 2013, though the 4 Albertsons in Florida still survive.
- Were the Alabama Albertsons (sold off shortly after the Albertsons Inc. split in 2006) part of the DFW division or the Florida division?
- Are there any more divisions I'm missing besides these confusing ones?
wnetmacman
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Re: Closed Albertsons divisions

Post by wnetmacman »

Pretty much, it's all one division now. The reason that the FW warehouse is listed as in use by AWG is that AWG handles all ABS distribution. The warehouses were sold to them a few years back.

I really can't tell you much about the AL stores; they could have been part of the Florida division.

SA wasn't really its own division, they pulled out in 2002, citing competition; HEB held 61% of grocery sales there. I believe they were part of the Houston division.

99 Cent Stores did buy the Houston/Katy warehouse. They almost left it not long after.

The Houston closures were very funny. For example, one store in Sulphur, LA was sold to Kroger, but two others in Lake Charles (just a few miles away) were kept and still operate to this day. The Bryan/College Station stores were probably profitable, which was why they survived.

The 4 stores in Florida are all contained near Pensacola, which is the closest to anywhere else in their operating area. Plant City is now a foodservice company.
Scott Greer
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Re: Closed Albertsons divisions

Post by KrogerTexas »

The Conroe Albertson's was part of the Dallas Division - as were the San Antonio stores until the distribution center opened in Katy, then Conroe transferred to Houston as well as the San Antonio stores. The Houston warehouse also supplied Albertson's in Louisiana, I think as far as Baton Rouge.

San Antonio was tough for Albertson's. They were third in market share when Kroger left. At that time in the early 90's HEB was about 58%; Kroger 15% and Albertson's was around 13%. I think they took a chance that they would pick up the bulk of Kroger's business and their older stores were the older Albertson's type, the new ones they built were similar to the ones they build in Houston. The original Albertson's were part of the Dallas division then moved to the Houston Division when it opened. The newer Albertson's built in San Antonio were build by the Dallas division. The Albertson's in Victoria was moved from Dallas to the Houston division and closed about the same time.

The Albertson's in College Station were probably like the Conroe store, part of the Dallas Division then transferred to Houston. They probably held on to them thinking they could make them work, but then HEB and Kroger both built new stores and captured the business in the area.
pseudo3d
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Re: Closed Albertsons divisions

Post by pseudo3d »

Kinda seems to weird though that the Kerrville and New Braunfels stores (the other stores closed in 2011) as part of the Dallas division. Either way, since the Houston division wasn't established proper until the mid-1990s it was possible that the B/CS stores never transferred to it.

By 1999, there were two Albertsons stores in College Station, with one being the original and one being bought by Randalls (the former Skaggs/Jewel-Osco store closed). In 2002, a third store opened in Bryan, all at the same time that the Houston market was crumbling. This faced a Kroger (the Kroger Family Center) that had existed since the 1970s, and an H-E-B Pantry. Then in 2004, the Pantry closed for a full-line store a few blocks down. The 1991 location survived an opening of a new Kroger about a mile and a half south of it and even got a renovation of sorts in 2002, but closed in 2008 for a rumored Wal-Mart expansion, which would come true in late 2009 when the southeast corner of the old Albertsons was ripped out and replaced with the expanded Walmart footprint. Meanwhile, the 2002 location closed after a short run in 2006 post-breakup, and the last one closed in 2011.

Word was that H-E-B only wanted one of the stores but Albertsons LLC made them take all three since by 2011 they were all losers, and what happened was they basically prevented any other grocery store from using them. They still sit vacant.

As for Louisiana, a newspaper article I found says that the Louisiana stores were supplied by the AWG warehouse (the old Dallas, now South division), and in 2010 that switched to a SuperValu warehouse in Mississippi.

The Florida division had a distribution center in Plant City but that was sold/outsourced, and as of 2010, they had still offices there in that complex, but it seems that with the 2013 consolidations, that's no longer the case, even though Florida Albertsons still exists.

I remember in the days of Safeway prior to the 1990s, they had divisions everywhere, often with distribution centers. Houston's division became AppleTree, Dallas's division was sold off, et cetera, so I was wondering if that was the same for Albertsons. They've certainly pulled out of lots of markets...or have they?
wnetmacman
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Re: Closed Albertsons divisions

Post by wnetmacman »

Word was that H-E-B only wanted one of the stores but Albertsons LLC made them take all three since by 2011 they were all losers, and what happened was they basically prevented any other grocery store from using them. They still sit vacant.
Lease/Deed restrictions are quite popular in many industries. Winn Dixie used them as leverage until their bankruptcy; it kept other operators from moving in where they had failed. When Valero assimilated all of Diamond Shamrock, they closed many duplicate locations. In the LoopNet sales brochures, they all said specifically 'No Gas Sales Allowed' without a time restriction. There were three locations in Lafayette, LA that became other things; one is a bar, one is a payday loan store, and one is a fish market.
As for Louisiana, a newspaper article I found says that the Louisiana stores were supplied by the AWG warehouse (the old Dallas, now South division), and in 2010 that switched to a SuperValu warehouse in Mississippi.
I'm not sure this ever came to pass; at the least, in Lafayette. Those stores still carry the Always Save brand, which is an AWG house brand.
The Florida division had a distribution center in Plant City but that was sold/outsourced, and as of 2010, they had still offices there in that complex, but it seems that with the 2013 consolidations, that's no longer the case, even though Florida Albertsons still exists.
In 2010, Albertsons still had quite a few stores in Florida. Plant City is just east of the Tampa area; it would be highly inefficient to run the four Pensacola stores 6 hours away from there; that warehouse and offices are now a foodservice company.
I remember in the days of Safeway prior to the 1990s, they had divisions everywhere, often with distribution centers. Houston's division became AppleTree, Dallas's division was sold off, et cetera, so I was wondering if that was the same for Albertsons. They've certainly pulled out of lots of markets...or have they?
Safeway had at least 5 divisions in OK/AR/TX/LA: Dallas (which contained Shreveport), Houston, Oklahoma City, Little Rock (and the rest of Louisiana) and El Paso. Dallas was sold off piecemeal. Houston became Apple Tree, OKC was largely sold to Homeland, Little Rock became Harvest Foods and later part of Affiliated Foods Southwest, and El Paso was largely sold off to Furr's. Only Homeland survives, if that's any indication of how well those markets did.
Albertsons, on the other hand, had divisions, and as a subset, operating cities. Dallas, Houston, OKC, San Antonio and Louisiana operated under the same division, but OKC, Dallas and Houston had warehouses. Albertsons would pull out of SA first, then Houston, then OKC. About half of the remaining stores have closed. Just an example of how each were organized.
As for store numbers, each company handles them different. As I recall, Safeway Dallas recycled numbers. Kroger does not. Albertsons hasn't really relocated much in any area. Kmart numbers by store type. Walmart, is sequential, so the number carries to a new store. As an example, store 87 in Minden, LA has relocated twice, using #87 each time.
Scott Greer
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Re: Closed Albertsons divisions

Post by KrogerTexas »

I also heard that HEB only wanted the store in Kerrville. I think Albertson's kept it open just to thumb it's nose at HEB. They had to take all as a package deal, and that has happened several times to different operators, or they take a store simply to close and keep the competition out.

There normally is a lease restriction when a grocery store relocates that one can't replace it. There are a few exceptions though.
wnetmacman
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Re: Closed Albertsons divisions

Post by wnetmacman »

There normally is a lease restriction when a grocery store relocates that one can't replace it. There are a few exceptions though.
That exception is usually when a grocer is leaving an area. For example, when Winn Dixie left the DFW area, that restriction did not happen, because several other operators bought the stores. When they filed for bankruptcy, it voided all remaining leases, which is one reason larger companies benefit from Chapter 11. They can reject leases.
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Re: Closed Albertsons divisions

Post by dooneyt63 »

The Florida Albertsons stores in Pensacola and nearby Fort Walton Beach were sold to Publix and converted to their banner several years ago. The remaining Albertsons stores are on the lower East Coast. The Tallahassee and Panama City (Callaway) stores were just closed. The FWB retains many Albertsons interior and arrangement details, but the stores in Pensacola were substantially remodeled.
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MikeRa
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Re: Closed Albertsons divisions

Post by MikeRa »

I think Albertsons will merge the Safeway Eastern division with the Acme Markets division.
pseudo3d
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Re: Closed Albertsons divisions

Post by pseudo3d »

I'm certain some divisions will be cut or merged. By the time the merger is done, Albertsons will have stores operating in Baton Rouge where the distribution center and division is closer to Houston, the Dallas stores will be in three different divisions (Houston for the Tom Thumb, South for Albertsons, United for Market Street). I hope that under Albertsons, United will grow and flourish, spreading through the Dallas area, and the Houston division will take in South's remaining stores.

I wonder if they'll build any stores that would've been built as Acme as Genuardi's, or if the remaining Genuardi's will go under Acme leadership.
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Re: Closed Albertsons divisions

Post by pseudo3d »

From what I could tell, the original Albertsons Inc. consisted of pre-2006 (the stars represent American Stores divisions), with the red being SuperValu stores, and the blue being Albertsons LLC. The SVU divisions are from an old listing from "Green America"

Jewel-Osco*
ACME*
Shaw's/Star Market

Dallas/Fort Worth
Southwest
Rocky Mountain
- based in Aurora
Florida
Northern California[/color] - based in San Leandro
Southern California
Bristol Farms
Oregon
Western Washington
Intermountain
- based in Salt Lake City, possible old ASC headquarters
Super Saver (Extreme Inc.)

The Houston division had been shut down by this time, not sure of any others.

After the company regrouped, AB Acquisition LLC reorganized both companies. New Albertsons kept the following:
ACME
Shaw's/Star Market
Jewel-Osco

Albertsons LLC would be composed of the following:
Southern California (SuperValu's, NorCal had been sold off as well as Bristol Farms)
Northwestern (folded Western Washington into Portland)
Southern (folded what was left of Florida into Dallas/Fort Worth)
Intermountain (what was left of Super Saver, too, as well as Rocky Mountain)
Southwestern

Then United joined Albertsons LLC, too.

When Safeway hooks up with Albertsons, Safeway becomes the "North" region, Albertsons LLC becomes the "South" region, and NAI becomes the "East" region. NAI gains the Washington DC ("Eastern") division of Safeway, Albertsons LLC gains the Houston division (Randalls), combines Safeway's Southwest into their Southwest, and combines Vons and SoCal into the new SoCal. Safeway keeps their Denver division, their Seattle division, takes Intermountain, merges Albertsons Northwestern into their Portland for the new Portland, keeps their NorCal division.

And of course, over the years, Safeway has shed many divisions in the 1980s, including the original Houston (spun off in 1988 as AppleTree), Omaha/Sioux Falls, Southern Ontario, West Germany, Dallas, Salt Lake City, El Paso, Oklahoma (Homeland), Little Rock, UK, Kansas City (Food Barn), Houston, Australia, and the original SoCal (sold to Vons, which they later bought back), then later closed Canada and Dominick's.
pseudo3d
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Re: Closed Albertsons divisions

Post by pseudo3d »

So I've discovered a lot about the Albertsons divisions since I made this thread. Originally, Albertsons used "regions": Southern California, Northern California (even before Lucky), Northwest, Intermountain, Southern, Midwest, Eastern and the drug division (according to the 2001 article I used, though I think I read elsewhere that Southwest was included among those). Midwest and Eastern were Jewel-Osco and ACME and presumably were used as anchors in Albertsons' grand plan to phase out those names and go outward (they were very close to actually touching some of their divisions prior to about 2001, Iowa had both Albertsons and Jewel-Osco, and Alabama may have had an Albertsons to form a contiguous path from Houston to Florida). Southern was originally Southco, birthed from their side of the Skaggs Albertsons stores.

In January 2001, Albertsons announced in Supermarket News that they were splitting into 18 divisions (not including the drug division). Idaho, Southern California, Northern California, Oregon, Western Washington, Inland Empire, Big Sky, Utah, Rocky Mountain, Southwest, Dallas/Fort Worth, San Antonio, Houston, Great Plains, Midwest, Midsouth, Florida and Eastern. Based on things I've read it looks like it was based on DCs more than anything else, though this still doesn't seem accurate. (I don't think they had DCs in Idaho AND Montana, which I guess where Big Sky is supposed to be, plus, there were two NorCal DCs at the time).

We know that at least three of those divisions disappeared in early 2002, those being Mid-South (included Missouri and Seessel's in Memphis), Houston, and San Antonio. Not all of the stores in those divisions went away. San Antonio included the Austin stores and Houston included the Louisiana and Bryan-College Station stores, and those were saved. I believe Great Plains also went away during this time (this included Omaha), I read an article about how they sold the warehouse to Fleming (which didn't keep it for long as it was having major problems at this time).

So that leaves us with 14 by the end of 2002, and another article mentions that 11 divisions were turned into 7 (Shaw's was not included in this) in 2004, though I think they were talking about the ones that were actually affected. It must have been in 2004 when Intermountain was re-created and the stranger ones, like Inland Empire, Idaho, Big Sky, and Utah bit the dust, that or the proposed consolidations never happened and they had already settled out the stranger ones.

However, by the time the split occurred in 2006, there were 11 divisions (not included Shaw's/Star Market, EXTREME, Bristol Farms, or the drug division). LLC took Northern California, Rocky Mountain, Florida, Dallas/Fort Worth, and Southwest, with SuperValu taking Jewel-Osco (Midwest), ACME (Eastern), Oregon, Western Washington, Intermountain, Southern California, and Shaw's/Star Market.

It was under LLC/NAI where the Southern division was also re-formed at the D/FW division, and Florida and Rocky Mountain went away as they had so few stores under LLC that keeping divisions for them wasn't worth it anymore, and Northwestern was also formed in the Seattle/Oregon area. Intermountain, Southwest, Southern California, Shaw's/Star Market, ACME, and Jewel-Osco remained unscathed.

The Safeway/Albertsons merger added the mess of divisions we see today (I wrote the section in Wikipedia because I am a massive nerd), where the company had 14 divisions.

Entirely OK (from Albertsons): ACME, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's, Intermountain, United
Entirely OK (from Safeway): Northern California, Denver, Eastern
Reorganized or Merged: ABS-Northwest was dissolved in favor of SWY-Portland and SWY-Seattle, SWY-Vons was dissolved in favor of ABS-SoCal, SWY-Southwest was merged into ABS-Southwest, SWY-Texas traded stores with ABS-Southern and became Houston.
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MikeRa
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Re: Closed Albertsons divisions

Post by MikeRa »

pseudo3d wrote:The Florida division had a distribution center in Plant City but that was sold/outsourced, and as of 2010, they had still offices there in that complex, but it seems that with the 2013 consolidations, that's no longer the case, even though Florida Albertsons still exists.
The 3 remaining Albertsons stores in Florida have since been renamed to Safeway, as of May, 2016
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