The fate of 25 Haggen stores in San Diego County going under may soon be known, as a number of grocery chains made bids this week in federal court for the store locations.
Among the bidders: Albertsons, Smart & Final and Gelsons.
The stores taken over by Washington-based Haggen earlier this year in a bold sweep stretch across the county – from North Park to San Marcos.
Albertsons -- which coincidentally sold some storefronts to Haggen -- is making bids for locations in Camino Del Sur, El Cajon, La Mesa, Rancho Bernardo and San Marcos. Smart & Final is bidding on 13 other stores.
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.
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.
Local
“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.
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 2707 Via De La Valle in Del Mar
- Gelsons for 7660 El Camino Real in Carlsbad
- Gelsons for 730 Turquoise St. in San Diego
- 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
