Albertsons (disambiguation)

For other uses, see Albertsons.

Albertson's LLC

File:Albertsons.svg
Company type	Private
Industry	Retail
Founded	1939
Headquarters	Boise, Idaho, U.S.
Number of locations	1069
Key people	Robert Miller, CEO
Products	Bakery, dairy, deli, frozen foods, general grocery, meat, pharmacy, produce, seafood, snacks, liquor
Revenue	US$6.0 billion (2007)
Number of employees	234,000 (2006)
Website	Albertsons.com

Albertsons is a North American grocery company based in Boise, Idaho, with 1069 supermarkets located in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Florida, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont under the Albertsons, Acme Markets, Jewel-Osco, Lucky Stores, Osco Pharmacy, Sav-on Pharmacy, Super Saver Foods, Shaw's and Star Market banners. While Albertson's LLC is majority-owned by Cerberus Capital Management, the Albertsons name as of March 21, 2013 is now owned in full by Albertsons, LLC.

On January 9, 2013, Cerberus Capital Management announced they would be acquiring the remaining Albertsons stores from SuperValu along with the Jewel-Osco, Acme, Shaw's, and Star Market chains in exchange for $100 million in cash and $3.2 million in SuperValu debt. As of March 21, 2013, Albertsons LLC owns all of the Albertsons chain as well as adding Jewel-Osco, Acme, and the Shaw's/Star Market combined chain back into its fold (the original Albertsons chain having acquired American Stores, the parent of Acme and Jewel-Osco, in 1999).

Supermarket News ranked Albertson's LLC No. 24 in the 2008 "Top 75 North American Food Retailers" based on 2007 fiscal year estimated sales of US$6.0 billion.

History

Beginning

Albertsons was founded by Joe Albertson in 1939 in Boise, Idaho. An ad in the Idaho Statesman newspaper touted Joe Albertson's first store as "Idaho's largest and finest food store." The store was filled with perks that, at the time, were brand new: free parking, a money-back guarantee, even an ice cream shop. The store was located at 17th and State Streets, a few blocks north of downtown Boise.

Joe Albertson's grocery store was an enormous success, and he plowed his profits back into the business. New stores were opened in neighboring towns to the west, Nampa, Caldwell, and Emmett, before Pearl Harbor in late 1941. The company grew steadily in the years following World War II. When Albertson was considering putting a new store in a town, he would drive around the town and look for neighborhoods with lots of children's clothing hanging on clotheslines; he knew that those kinds of neighborhoods were where he wanted to build his stores.

Albertsons, Inc. became a public company in 1959, and its growth continued, opening its 100th store, in Seattle in 1964. In 1966, Albertsons expanded to southern California by acquiring Greater All American Markets, a small chain in Orange County.

Partnering with Skaggs

In 1969, Albertsons partnered with Skaggs Drug Centers, owned by The Skaggs Companies, Inc., to create the first combination food/drug stores. The partnership was a tremendous success for several years. The partnership ended due to the fact that it was getting more difficult to control. Neither partner could buy each other out, and the partnership was dissolved amicably in 1977. Skaggs kept stores in Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas, and Albertsons kept stores in Florida, Alabama, and Louisiana, as well as some Texas stores. Albertsons added three Skaggs-Alpha Beta stores in Austin within months after entering that market in early 1989 with the acquisition of six Tom Thumb Food & Pharmacy stores. In 1992, seventy-four of the remaining Skaggs stores (having been through several names under Skaggs/American Stores control, first "Skaggs SuperCenters", then "Skaggs-Alpha Beta", and finally "Jewel-Osco") in Oklahoma, Florida, Arkansas, and Texas were acquired by Albertsons from Skaggs/American Stores, including all 53 Jewel-Osco stores in Texas. Albertsons would increase its store count in the Dallas-Fort Worth area by adding 41 Jewel-Osco stores to its 19 stores already in operation. (These were also stores that only months before were rebranded from Skaggs-Alpha Beta to Jewel-Osco.) The stores would be rebranded as Albertsons.

The Skaggs acquisition was a success, and the new stores were smoothly integrated into Albertsons' Texas division. The ease of that acquisition and Albertsons' high-flying stock price led Albertsons to attempt expansion on a grand scale. In a series of acquisitions in the late 1990s, Albertsons acquired Seessel's in the Memphis, Tennessee market; 14 Bruno's stores in the Nashville and eastern Tennessee markets; Smitty's in the Springfield, Missouri market; Super One Foods in the Des Moines, Iowa market; and Buttrey Food & Drug in Montana, Wyoming, and western North Dakota. All of those stores except Seessel's were re-bannered as Albertsons, and several new stores were built, concentrating growth in fast-growing markets throughout Tennessee. Of those acquisitions, only Buttrey was smoothly integrated into Albertsons; by the end of 2005, all of the Albertsons and Seessel's stores in Tennessee outside Memphis had been closed, and the rest had been sold to Schnucks of St. Louis, Missouri. The former Smitty's was divested to Price Cutter, and Super One was closed and the buildings sold.

American Stores

A typical Albertsons in Boise, Idaho.

In 1999, Albertsons made its biggest acquisition: American Stores Company, which included the chains Acme in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware; Lucky in California and Nevada; Jewel and Jewel-Osco in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Michigan, and two pharmacy chains: Osco Drug and Sav-on Drugs. The acquisition briefly made Albertsons the largest American grocery operator, with over 2,500 stores in 37 states, until Kroger's acquisition of Fred Meyer closed the following month. To make the acquisition, Albertsons was forced by anti-trust concerns to sell nearly 100 stores, primarily in California, Nevada, and New Mexico. In southern California, there were already Albertsons, so in order to not have two banners in the same area, Lucky stores were converted to the Albertsons banner in November 1999, and the Lucky brand name was retired.

Company Problems

In 2004 Albertsons Drug Managers filed a class action lawsuit Scott Cole & Associates: Albertsons Class Action. Scott Cole & Associates, APC filed the action for violations of California's overtime laws their behalf. The action settled for $2.35 Million, representing one of the highest per-work week settlements in the state at the time.

2000s

In 2001, Albertsons sold its freestanding Osco Drug stores in the northeastern states to Jean Coutu Group, a Canadian drug store company. Those stores were re-branded as Brooks Pharmacy after the sale was completed in January 2002. In March 2005, Albertsons re-introduced the Osco brand name to the New England region by way of its Shaw's and Star Market pharmacies. Also, Albertsons began issuing Albertsons Preferred Savings Cards.

Albertsons exited the San Antonio, Texas, market in April 2002 by closing its 20 remaining area stores after already shuttering three other stores in December 2001. Albertsons was ranked as the area's number two grocer by market share, compared to H-E-B's top position in the market. At the time of the withdrawal, the 44-store H-E-B chain held a commanding 61% market share, while Albertsons held a 15% market share. Albertsons had held the third position at the time Kroger exited the market in mid-1993 when it closed its 15 area stores. Then, H-E-B's 37 area stores held a 43.2% market share, Kroger's 15 area stores a 13.7% share, and Albertsons' 10 stores a 13.1% share.

Also in 2002, Albertsons sold its Seessel's supermarket chain in Memphis and parts of Mississippi to Schnucks, Brookshire's, and pulled out of Houston, closing its 43 area stores leaving them to Kroger and Randalls after entering that market in 1990.

In 2004, Albertsons acquired Shaw's Supermarkets and Star Market Company from Sainsbury's for $2.5 billion.

Also in 2004, Albertsons exited the markets of Omaha, Nebraska, and New Orleans, Louisiana, closing over 20 stores. (Albertsons has since re-entered the New Orleans market)

Sale to SuperValu, CVS, and Cerberus

Albertsons locations in blue

The acquisition spree caused significant problems for Albertsons, Inc. Many of the acquired chains had systems that did not mesh well with Albertsons. Financing those acquisitions required Albertsons Inc. to take on significant debt. Added to those problems were significant changes in consumer buying patterns, including new competition from large discounters such as Walmart and Costco that impacted sales. In 2005, Albertsons put itself up for sale, due to not being able to compete with other chains. Several companies interested were The Kroger Co. and SuperValu Inc., these companies were interested in the supermarket chains, whereas The Walgreen Co., CVS Corporation, and Rite Aid were interested in purchasing the Osco and Sav-on drugstore chains.

After several reorganizations and waves of store closings, on January 23, 2006, Albertsons, Inc., agreed to be acquired by SuperValu, a Cerberus-led group of investors, and CVS Pharmacy. The acquisition was completed on June 2, 2006 with the Cerberus-led group (who also included Kimco Realty Corporation, Schottenstein Stores Corp., Lubert-Adler Partners, and Klaff Realty) acquiring 661 stores and the distribution centers and offices from five of Albertsons divisions. These five divisions were thought to be Albertsons' five weakest divisions, and conventional wisdom in the industry was that the stores would eventually be closed or sold to other operators.

As of June 2, 2006, the company's retail stores were divided as follows:

• SuperValu has acquired 1124 stores in the deal, including:
  • Acme (134 locations)
  • Acme Express, Jewel Express, and Albertsons Express (107 fuel centers)
  • Albertsons (564 locations in Southern California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming) - New Albertsons
  • Bristol Farms (11 locations)
  • Jewel and Jewel-Osco (198 locations)
  • Lazy Acres (1 location)
  • Max Foods (4 locations) (3 converted into Lucky, 1 became Albertsons in July 2006)
  • Osco Pharmacy and Sav-on Pharmacy (906 pharmacies)
  • Save-A-Lot (2 stores franchised by Shaw's)
  • Shaw's (169 locations)
  • Star Market (20 locations)
  • Distribution centers (11 centers)

• CVS acquired all (approximately 702) of the stand-alone Osco Drug and Sav-on Drugs rebranding them all as CVS Pharmacy, though they closed approximately 100 of the acquired stores. Many CVS locations were close to Sav-on stores.

• The Cerberus-led group acquired:
  • Albertsons (655 locations in Arizona, Northern California, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Wyoming (later sold to SuperValu)) - Albertsons LLC
  • County Line Liquors (1 location)
  • Grocery Warehouse (1 location)
  • Jewel-Osco (2 locations)
  • Max Foods (2 locations)
  • Super Saver Foods (23 locations, 21 closed in late 2006)

After Acquisition

SuperValu has publicly stated that New Albertsons will continue to have a presence in Boise, Idaho, for a three-year period from the date of acquisition, but has not stated which functions will remain permanently in Boise, Idaho, or transitioned to Eden Prairie, Minnesota.

Albertson's, Inc., is no longer a separate publicly traded company and has been removed from the NYSE. Albertsons will only exist as a nameplate for the grocery stores acquired by SuperValu and Cerberus. New Albertson's, Inc., has become the successor company to Albertsons according to SEC filings. Albertsons LLC was also formed as part of the reorganization of assets and liabilities and will eventually be led by the Cerberus group.

The five Albertsons Inc. divisions that became Albertson's LLC were the Dallas/Fort Worth division (Texas (except El Paso), Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Arkansas), the Rocky Mountain division (Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, and South Dakota), the Southwest division (Arizona, New Mexico and El Paso, Texas), the Florida division (Florida), and the Northern California division (northern California and northern Nevada). Albertson's LLC has concentrated on rebuilding market share and its store base in its strongest areas, and divesting stores and other property in its weaker areas.

On June 6, 2006, only one week after Albertson's LLC was created, the company announced its intent to close 100 Albertsons stores by August 2006. Those closures were spread across all five divisions. Soon after, the company announced that it would be shutting down its online delivery service on July 21, 2006.

In June 2007, Albertson's LLC decided to discontinue its Preferred Savings Card Program, choosing instead offer discounted items to all of its customers. In September, 2007, all Albertsons stores in the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, and Florida markets began collecting their Albertsons Preferred Savings Cards.

In 2007, New Albertsons created the "Crazy About Food" slogan and campaign. At the same time, they announced they no longer needed spokesperson Patricia Heaton. In an effort to unify the entire SuperValu company, a new slogan was introduced at the end of 2008 throughout the company and is "Good Things are Just Around the Corner." Previous slogans were "At Albertsons, We Think Like You Do.", "It's Your Store.", and "Helping Make Your Life Easier."

In 2008, New Albertsons divested Bristol Farms to its senior management.

On July 28, 2009, SuperValu announced that it was selling 36 of its 43 Utah Albertsons locations to Associated Food Stores, and is seeking a buyer for 4 others. All stores will be re-branded "Fresh Market". Only the 3 stores located near St. George and in Tooele, Utah will remain branded as Albertsons.

In 2010, Brookshire's, having acquired 4 Albertsons stores in 2002, pulled out of the Mississippi market by closing 2 stores and selling 2 other stores to Kroger.

On September 5, 2012, SuperValu said they are closing 26 Albertsons stores in the U.S. The closings are part of a decision to close about 60 stores nationwide.

Albertsons Express fuel centers

On May 5, 2008, Albertson's LLC announced the sale and divestiture of all 72 of the Albertsons Express fuel centers to San Antonio, Texas-based Valero Energy Corporation. Most of the Albertsons Express stores were located in the Phoenix, Arizona; Denver, Colorado; Baton Rouge and Lafayette, Louisiana; and Dallas-Ft. Worth markets. The transaction was completed in August 2008. Valero converted the acquired locations into Valero Corner Stores.

Northern California Division

On November 27, 2006, Albertson's LLC and Save Mart Supermarkets announced their agreement for Save Mart to acquire Albertsons' Northern California and Northern Nevada locations. Save Mart began operating the 132 new stores as of February 2007. Save Mart gradually converted all the stores to its Save Mart banner, except for stores in the San Francisco Bay area, which were rebranded as Lucky Stores. Most of these stores had originally been Lucky Stores before Albertsons Inc. acquired American Stores in 1999.

Dallas-Fort Worth Division

A typical Albertsons store in Dallas, TX

Albertson's LLC announced in December 2006 that it would be closing five unprofitable stores in North Texas. The closures left the company with 78 stores in the Dallas-Fort Worth market. The company announced on January 29, 2007 that 11 more stores in Texas would be closed, including six in the Dallas area and two in the Austin area. After the closures, Albertsons was down to 71 stores in Dallas-Fort Worth and 93 in Texas. On September 12, 2007, Albertson's LLC announced that it would exit the Austin, Texas, market by selling its three remaining units to H-E-B, along with two previously shuttered facilities.

On June 19, 2007, Albertson's LLC announced plans to exit the Oklahoma market, closing or selling all 26 stores in the state. Also, the Dallas-Fort Worth division outsourced their grocery distribution operations by selling their Fort Worth Distribution Center to Associated Wholesale Grocers. A large number of former stores reopened under the banner of Food Pyramid.

On May 28, 2008, Albertson's LLC announced plans to close one of its two remaining stores in College Station, Texas.

In January 2011, Albertson's LLC announced plans to close 7 more stores in Texas, including 5 in the DFW Division. These stores included #4288 in Southlake, #4209 in San Angelo, #4208 in Tyler, #4147 in Plano, #4125 in Richardson, #4118 in Garland and #4107 in Carrollton. All 7 stores permanently closed in mid-late February 2011.

In August 2011, H-E-B announced it had acquired three Albertson's LLC locations in Texas: Kerrville, New Braunfels, and College Station. All three locations are to close in October 2011. Only one of the three locations will be renovated and reopened (Kerrville), while the other two will be leased to other retailers.

Southwest Division

In January, 2007, store closings were also announced for Arizona, including eight Albertsons and two Grocery Warehouse stores.

On June 12, 2007, Albertson's LLC agreed to acquire all Raley’s locations in New Mexico. The acquisition includes one closed and eight operating stores in Albuquerque and one store in Taos, thus doubling Albertsons store base in the Albuquerque region. These stores were originally Albertsons and Lucky stores that the former Albertsons Inc. was required to divest in 1998 when it merged with American Stores.

In February 2009, Albertson's LLC closed a Mesa, Arizona, Albertsons at Stapley and University.

Rocky Mountain Division

In January, 2007, Albertson's LLC announced an additional nine store closings in Colorado.

On December 19, 2007 SuperValu Inc. agreed to acquire the eight remaining Albertsons stores from Albertson's LLC in Wyoming not already owned by the company. These include stores in Casper, Cheyenne, Cody, Gillette, Laramie, and Sheridan. These stores continue to operate under the Albertsons banner

In February, 2008, Albertson's LLC sold two stores in Scottsbluff, Nebraska and Rapid City, South Dakota to Nash Finch Company. The sales marked the withdrawal of the Albertsons nameplate from both states.

On August 24 and 25, 2009, Albertson's LLC announced plans to close a total of nine stores and one distribution center. The closings included five stores and one distribution center located in Colorado. The company planned to support the remaining Colorado stores from its Tolleson, Arizona distribution center.

Florida Division

A former Albertsons location in St. Petersburg, Florida, now operating under the Publix Super Markets banner.

On February 3, 2008, Albertson's LLC announced that they were closing all three Albertsons stores in Tallahassee, Florida. One of the locations was destroyed and converted into a Kohl's; another became a Publix store. The third location sits abandoned.

On June 9, 2008, Albertson's LLC entered into an agreement with Lakeland, Florida-based Publix stores to sell 49 Albertsons stores in Florida to Publix. This included 15 stores in Northern and Northwest Florida, 30 locations in Central Florida, and four locations in South Florida. The sale was completed in September.

Four more store closings were announced for stores located Florida by the end of October 2009.

On October 5, 2009, Albertson's LLC announced plans to close 3 stores in the Orlando, FL area. The stores located at John Young Parkway and Highway 192 in Kissimmee, Orange Blossom Trail and Deerfield Ave in South Orlando, and the store located at Curry Ford Road and Semoran Ave were all sold to Sedano's Supermarket. These Albertsons closed January 3, 2010, with the take over by Sedano's January 7, 2010.

In January 2010, Albertson's LLC announced plans to close 8 more stores in the Florida Division. The stores closed included #4360 in Pembroke Pines, #4371 in Boca Raton, and #4383 in Delray Beach, as well as stores in Melbourne, Oviedo, Sanford, Loxahatchee, and Lake Worth. All the stores permanently closed in early February 2010. The closings left Albertson's LLC with 20 stores in the Florida Division.

In August 2011, Albertson's LLC announced it was closing three more Florida stores. They are store #4314 (Gainesville), #4326 (Tampa), and #4373 (Mt. Dora)

In April 2012, Albertsons announced the closure of 13 more Florida stores and the chain's Plant City distribution center. The closures will leave Albertson's LLC with only 4 stores remaining in Florida.

Sale to Cerberus

On January 10, 2013, it was announced that Supervalu was selling New Albertsons (Albertsons and the ASC purchased stores) to Cerberus Capital Management, which own the rest of the Albertsons stores. Since then, the Albertsons LLC-owned stores have come into the fold. In February 23, 2013, Albertsons LLC announced it would split operations of the combined chain into five divisions: Northwestern, Intermountain, Southern California, Southern, and Southwestern.

Chains

Albertsons LLC operates stores under the following banners:

• Acme Markets 117 locations (DE, Northern MD, NJ, Eastern PA)
• Albertsons 594 locations (AZ, NM, CO, TX, LA, AR, FL ,Southern CA, ID, MT, ND, NV, OR, UT, WA and WY)
• Jewel-Osco 182 locations in (IL, eastern IA, northwestern IN and southeastern WI)
• Lucky Stores 5 locations (Las Vegas and Northern CA)
• Osco Pharmacy and Sav-on Pharmacy 722 pharmacies (Nationwide)
• Shaw's and Star Market 169 locations (MA, ME, NH, RI and VT)
• Super Saver Foods 2 locations (UT)

Brands

Albertsons owns several store brands ("private label" brands), often bearing the name of the chain sold under, e.g. "Jewel" brand products in the Jewel and Jewel-Osco locations. Other Albertsons brands over the years have included Good Day, Village Market, A+, Master's Choice, and Janet Lee. The drug store brands (used for health and beauty aids, over-the-counter medications, and intimate paper goods) were consolidated under the name "Equaline," rather than the previous name, "Sav-On Osco by Albertsons" brand. Albertsons introduced an upscale private label brand, "Essensia," in 2003, which has now been renamed by SuperValu as Culinary Circle. Store brand items in Albertsons stores include Albertsons (national brand quality food), Shoppers Value (value priced items), Homelife (national brand quality non-foods), Culinary Circle ("gourmet" foods and ready-made meals), Whole Care Pet (pet foods and supplies), Baby Basics (diapers and infant care items), Java Delight (coffee), Farm Fresh (fresh produce), Arctic Shores (frozen seafood), Stockman & Dakota (high-quality beef), Flavorite (national brand quality foods, used throughout Supervalu stores), Stone Ridge (ice cream and sherbet), Super Chill (soft drinks and mixers), Equaline (health and beauty products), and Wild Harvest (natural and organic foods). In 2011 Supervalu announced it would eliminate Flavorite and all brands named after the chains it operates (such as Albertsons, Jewel, Shaw's, etc.) and would replace those labels with a new label, Essential Everyday.

Technology

Albertsons was increasingly progressive in the area of technology, having in recent years added a "check out while you go" system, known as "Shop 'N' Scan", where shoppers scanned items as they shopped and quickly paid before leaving. This was tested at Albertsons (now LLC) stores in Texas. This system has since been removed from some stores.

Albertsons offered (in certain areas) its customers the option to shop from home via the company's website, www.albertsons.com. Pickups were arranged at the store, or the items were delivered to the customer's home. In areas where this program was in effect, it was widely advertised over television and radio by corporate spokeswoman Patricia Heaton.

At the beginning of 2009, SuperValu introduced a new innovative way to help customers shop healthy known as nutrition iQ. This program identifies the health benefits of over 60,000 products in 11 eleven different health categories.

On June 11, 2013 Albertsons announced its plans to merge its duplicate websites, social media accounts and mobile apps onto one of each kind. While its website consolidation appeared to take place as expected, its applications received bad reviews - but the biggest consequence was the mistaken deletion of their previous Facebook page and loss of over 200,000 fans. While no details were given as to the mistake made, Albertsons simply admitted that while attempting to join their Albertsons page with over 200,000 Likes and their Albertsons Market page with over 80,000 Likes, something went wrong resulting in the loss of thousands of Likes and comments.

Preferred Savings Card

Prior to the introduction of the Albertsons Preferred Savings Card in 2001 to all stores, Albertsons used a savings program called "Bonus Buys." "Bonus Buys" were available to anyone that shopped at Albertsons. Preferred Savings Cards are issued to all shoppers and allow for customers to actually see the savings. Only the SuperValu owned Albertsons stores continued to use the Preferred Savings Cards, as the Albertsons LLC stores discontinued them after September 2007. On June 19, 2013, the use of the Preferred card in the former SuperValu stores was discontinued. [2]

Albertsons launched a gas rewards program at the start of 2009. Every time customers spend $50 using their Preferred Savings card they will earn a discount of 5 cents off per gallon of gasoline at any Albertsons Express Gas Station. Customers can earn up to $1.50 off per gallon of gasoline or diesel (up to 20 gallons) in a rolling 30 day period. Savings greater than $1.50 per gallon may be redeemed at the customer's next purchase.

In the Community

Albertsons offered a way for all non-profit youth oriented organizations to earn money. This program was called "Community Partners." Members of an organization could link their Preferred Savings Card to an organizations number. Albertsons then gave the organization a percentage of the sales used with the card. They ended the program on May 1, 2010.

External links

• Albertsons Homepage
• The New SuperValu, summarizing the impact of the Albertsons acquisition
• Albertsons History, Albertsons historical summary