Save Mart Superstores of Modesto has forged an agreement to buyout 132 Albertsons stores in Northern California, including the Pleasanton one on West Las Positas Boulevard.
Financial terms of the agreement are not being disclosed because both grocery companies are privately held, according to Alicia Rockwell, spokeswoman for Save Mart. The deal, which is expected to be finalized at the end of February, will mean Save Mart, which also owns Food Maxx, will take down the Albertsons name at area grocery stores about six months after that.
A call for comment from the Pleasanton Albertsons was referred to the grocery chain’s corporate office in Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas.
Jennifer Vroman, a spokeswoman for Albertsons, said things will be “business as usual” for customers.
Rockwell echoed Vroman’s comments, saying customers won’t notice any major changes to their neighborhood grocery store.
“Everything will operate as normal and we want to make sure that we don’t have too much disruption during the holiday period–that’s a big time for us in the grocery business,” Rockwell said. “And in the meantime, we don’t actually own them, so there really isn’t anything we can do until we actually own the stores. It probably won’t be until late fall next year when we’re really ready to start doing something differently. We don’t own the name or anything.”
The sale, which was initiated by Save Mart, includes 132 stores that make up Albertson’s LLC Northern California Division and also includes acquiring a division office in Dublin and distribution centers in Roseville and Vacaville. Albertsons currently has 13,000 employees in the Northern California Division, and 94 of them work at the Pleasanton store. None will face layoffs, Rockwell said.
“They become our employees at the close of the sale,” she said. “We’re planning to operate all 132 stores and so it takes that number of employees to operate them now so I don’t know that much will change.”
Rockwell said Save Mart wanted to purchase the stores to help better the company’s presence in Northern California. Save Mart owns Food Maxx, which has locations across the East Bay Area. The closest Save Mart is in Milpitas.
“It will give us a broader base in those areas where now we only have one store,” she said. “Obviously, when you have more stores in a geographical region, you create better efficiencies in distributing your product from store to store as well as the size of this acquisition will provide for us addition efficiencies in how we buy our products and the variety we’re going to be able to provide as well as the services we can provide–all of that will be enhanced.”
Rockwell said a decision on whether the Pleasanton store will be renamed Food Maxx or Save Mart will be made after the sale closes in February.
Vroman said Albertsons agreed to sell to Save Mart because of their good reputation.
“Save Mart is a rapidly expanding regional grocery company,” she said. “They’re good operators and we just felt like it was a good fit.”
The Albertsons supermarket chain’s ownership was split into a consortium in June that included grocer SUPERVALU, drugstore chain CVS, private-equity firm Cerberus Capital Management and Kimco Realty for about $9.7 billion. In the wake of that deal, 37 stores in Northern California were closed in June due to poor performance. Pleasanton-based Safeway Inc. is one of the biggest grocery chains in the Bay Area. Albertsons also competes locally with Raley’s, which also owns Nob Hill Foods, and Whole Foods
Save Mart Supermarkets is an independently-owned grocery chain was founded in 1952.
“Albertson’s associates can look forward to joining this commitment to excellence and family pride, which began in 1952 with my father, Mike Piccinini and uncle, Nick Tocco,” said Save Mart Chairman and CEO Bob Piccinini.