POULSBO — The Albertsons supermarket in Poulsbo Village will close in about a month, the company’s district manager announced to employees early June 5.
A company spokeswoman said the store was “underperforming.”
Ryan Helton, operations specialist for Safeway’s Tacoma district, said he expects all store employees to find employment within other stores in the company. Store manager Christine Hopper said the store has about 60 employees. Helton said there are 17 stores in the Tacoma district, from Tacoma to Kingston to Bainbridge Island.
Albertsons and Safeway are owned by the same parent company. AB Acquisition LLC, and Safeway Inc. announced a merger plan in March 2014. AB Acquisition LLC, the owner of Albertsons, acquired all outstanding shares of Safeway for $9.2 billion; federal regulators required the merged company to sell 168 stores to prevent too much market power from being in the same hands. (AB Acquisition is controlled by an investor group led by Cerberus Capital Management LP.)
In June 2014, the Poulsbo Safeway opened at Highway 305 and Lincoln Avenue, bringing a fifth supermarket choice to this city of 10,000 people. Safeway is located down the street from Central Market and across the highway from Albertsons. Red Apple is located on Viking Avenue. Walmart is located at College Marketplace.
Albertsons/Safeway communications officer Sara Osborne provided the Herald with this statement regarding the closure of the Poulsbo Village Albertsons:
“Like all retailers, we’re constantly evaluating the performance of our portfolio of stores. Closing an underperforming store is always a tough decision, but we’re focused on growing our business by being the favorite local supermarket, and running great stores where people love to shop. That’s what will enable to us to offer the products and services our customers value most in Poulsbo and everywhere else we operate.
“With respect to the store employees, our human resource department is working with the affected employees and the labor unions to find positions for them in a different store within our company.”
Helton’s confidence that all store employees will find jobs within the company blunted the shock from the store’s impending closure. But it didn’t erase all of the pain; much of this business is built on relationships with customers.
“We love our customers,” Hopper said. “It’s a very close-knit family store. For several customers, it’s their outing for the day.”
Helton added, “A lot of people shop in the store because of the employees.”
Hopper has worked for Albertsons for 18 years — 4.5 managing the Poulsbo store, the other years in Silverdale, Gig Harbor and Tacoma.
“Too many to count,” Hopper said of the hugs she’s seen this day.
“Love you, Megan,” a young girl said to a checker as her mom gave the employee a hug.
LOSING AN ANCHOR
Albertsons’ Poulsbo Village store opened in 1985, according to Poulsbo Village manager Emily Authenrieth.
With Albertsons’ departure, Poulsbo Village loses an anchor store — the other anchor is Rite Aid. Albertsons owns the real estate it occupies, as does Rite Aid. Poulsbo Village owns the remainder and manages the parking lot and landscaping for the entire commercial village.
All told, there are approximately 46 stores in Poulsbo Village, according to Authenrieth.
Poulsbo Mayor Becky Erickson said she believes the economy is strong enough that the Albertsons site will be filled by another business “in pretty quick order.”
“I’m not all that worried,” she said. She said she was also not surprised by the news. “Especially after the merger, the likelihood of them keeping both stores was remote. And they’re not going to abandon the new Safeway they built.”
Erickson said she was most “heartened” to hear that Albertsons/Safeway will try to find jobs for all employees impacted by the closure. “It’s the responsible thing to do,” she said.
