Allied Gardens Friends and Neighbors:
I wanted to provide an update on the Albertsons supermarket closure located at Zion & Waring. As I stated Saturday, I am committed to keeping you all informed about what is and will happen as credible information comes out.
On Saturday afternoon I met directly with the Albertsons store manager -- She presented to me that the store would be closing on February 27th because they were unable to renew their lease terms with the property owner. That story was ratified when speaking to the General Manager this morning -- she was quite tight-lipped and encouraged me to communicate directly with the Albertsons LLC Corporate Communications.
This morning I had an extensive dialogue with Albertson Corporate Communications Director. This is the factual informational presented:
1.) Albertsons LLC is the sole owner of our neighborhood Albertsons. Albertsons LLC is a private shareholder group. There is no ownership/financial relationship with Haggen Inc based in Washington State. Some neighbors had suggested that Haggen's recent purchase of purchase 146 food stores across Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington -- including VONS -- was the reason this store was closing. That is NOT the reason the store is closing.
2.) Executive leadership at Albertsons LLC, the sole owner of our neighborhood Albertsons, made the decision on their own to close our Albertsons because, "It was not meeting expectations," "determined it was not a viable location to continue operation" and that this was an irrevocable "business decision" made by Albertsons LLC ownership.
3.) Albertsons LLC will initiate a liquidation action plan starting Wednesday, January 21st. It was explained to me that everything in the store will be available for sale -- from food to fixtures. It was presented to me that the target date to close the store was February 26th. However, if the liquidation action plan is completed before the 26th, they could and would close the store sooner.
After that conversation, a Boardmember of the Community Council who is also a real estate executive, reached out to the property owner who is the landowner of the entire mall. The property owner claims they were not aware of the closure until the information was presented to them by the Community Council Boardmember. This is the factual information presented:
1.) The property owner would value working with the community to find another viable food store. It will most likely will be a prolonged process.
2.) The property owner did not require the Albertsons to close
3.) Some neighbors suggested the property was to be torn down to build high-density apartments. The property owner says this information is not credible.
While all the information above is verified by me as fact, it remains a very fluid situation. I will ensure that you all get information as the facts present themselves.
The Allied-Gardens Community Council will be holding a Community Town Hall on Tuesday, January 27th at 7pm at Ascension Lutheran Church at the top of Zion to discuss the most up-to-date information about the closure and what we can do as a community to advocate for a new food store.
Logic suggests that big box national food chains might be apprehensive to try their luck at this location but we may be able to lure a smaller niche food store like Trader Joe's or Sprouts. Once again, we are the beginning of a long marathon -- we're all in this together. Let's make good decision based on fact and limit conjecture.
FYI: San City Attorney Jan Goldsmith will be the Keynote of the Town Hall on January 27th. He will discuss the proliferation of illegal marijuana dispensaries that have popped up in Grantville and the strategies he is deploying to close illegal / non-conforming dispensaries. He’ll also explain the municipal code process to zone legal conforming medial marijuana outlets.
See you all January 27th at 7pm at the Allied Gardens-Grantville Town Hall Meeting!
Best regards,
Anthony Wagner
President Allied Gardens-Grantville Community Council
