Gelson's Markets will purchase six Haggen stores in Southern California, including two in San Diego, Gelson’s President & CEO Rob McDougall announced Monday.
Gelson's Market, a Southern California supermarket, will soon take over and revamp six stores across Southern California. One store is located in Ladera Ranch in Orange County, one in Rancho Mirage in Riverside County on Bob Hope Drive, one in Ventura County, one in Los Angeles County and two in San Diego County. The two in San Diego are located at 2707 Via De La Valle in the Del Mar neighborhood and 730 Turquoise Street in San Diego.
“We’re excited to become part of the San Diego community, a process that may take time in order to customize stores for each neighborhood,” said McDougall in a statement. “Our goal is to retain as many local Haggen workers as possible while also giving opportunities to existing Gelson’s employees, as well as others who wish to join the Gelson’s family.”
McDougall said the company plans to relaunch the stories it has acquired as early as next year under its own brand, and those stores will reopen with initial improvements like product selection and merchandising.
Later on in 2016, the stores will be redesigned and may undergo some construction. Pharmacies will stay open during construction.
Gelson's was picked as a Stalking Horse bidder in mid-October and the company says it anticipates closing on the stores later in 2015.
Earlier this year, Haggen bought 146 Albertsons and Safeway stores, expanding from 18 stores in Oregon and Washington into new markets in California, Nevada and Arizona.
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The stores soon struggled and Haggen ultimately filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection amid dismal sales before announcing it was departing from California altogether.
It’s still too soon to tell what will happen to each of the locations and it's not clear all of the locations will remain grocery stores.
“This is a great land grab for these companies to offer something different than a traditional supermarket,” said San Diego State University marketing professor Miro Copic.
It will take at least 60 to 90 days before Haggen is transformed into another grocery store.
In the meantime, shoppers will buy up what’s left of Haggen’s inventory.
Gelson's will also open two new stores in Rancho Mission Viejo and Manhattan Beach. The company currently operates 18 full-service grocery stores in the region.
Originally, 25 Haggen stores in San Diego County were up for grabs and now 19 remain. Albertsons, which coincidentally sold some storefronts to Haggen, is bidding for locations in Camino Del Sur, El Cajon, La Mesa, Rancho Bernardo and San Marcos. Smart & Final is bidding on 13 other stores.
Here's a full list of bidders in San Diego County:
- Albertsons for 1608 Broadway St. in El Cajon
- Albertsons for 5630 Lake Murray Blvd. in La Mesa
- Albertsons for 12475 Rancho Bernardo Road in Rancho Bernardo
- Albertsons for 7895 Highland Village Place in San Diego
- Albertsons for 671 Rancho Santa Fe in San Marcos
- Gelsons for 7660 El Camino Real in Carlsbad
- Carnival Supermarket Inc. for 505 Telegraph Canyon Road in Chula Vista
- RJS Investment Group for 14837 Pomerado Road in Poway
- 99 Ranch Market for 5950 Balboa Ave. in San Diego
- Bristol Farms for 422 Washington St. in San Diego
- Vestar California (strip mall owner) for 14340 Penasquitos Drive in San Diego
Smart & Final bids:
- 360 East H St. Chula Vista
- 13439 Camino Canada El Cajon
- 1636 W. 25th St. San Diego
- 955 Carlsbad Village Drive Carlsbad
- 2800 Fletcher Parkway El Cajon
- 3681 Avocado Avenue La Mesa
- 10740 Westview Parkway San Diego
- 150 B Ave. Coronado
- 10633 Tierra Santa Blvd. San Diego
- 350 W. San Ysidro Blvd. San Ysidro
- 2235 University Ave. San Diego
