It's Joe Albertson's Supermarket, So We Go Outta ........Business

The following excerpt is taken from an article on an Albertson's webpage.

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PURCHASE OF SELECT ALBERTSON'S, INC. BUSINESSES COMPLETED BY CERBERUS CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LED INVESTOR GROUP

June 2nd, 2006 - Boise, ID - The purchase of select Albertson’s, Inc. businesses has been completed by a group of investors led by Cerberus Capital Management, LP. The group also includes Kimco Realty, Schottenstein Stores Corporation, Lubert-Adler Partners, and Klaff Realty, LP.

The Cerberus-led group has acquired 661 operating stores and 100 percent of the distribution centers and offices in Albertson’s’ Dallas/Fort Worth division and in the Florida, Northern California, Rocky Mountain and Southwestern regions. These stores operate under the Albertson’s and Super Saver banners and also include the combo-store pharmacies under the Osco and Sav-on banners.

The businesses acquired by the Cerberus-led group will operate under the ownership of Albertson's LLC as the successor to Albertson's, Inc. And, as previously announced, Robert Miller will lead the Boise-based company as its Chief Executive Officer.

“Being part of a smaller, privately held organization, we can now accomplish things at the local level that were not practical before. We will have a more targeted focus on what is right for the customer and be able to make those decisions much more quickly and closer to them,” Miller commented. 

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The Florida Frahm family is sooooo sad to see our Albertson's close.  As of September 1st, it is no more.  We have been shopping there since moving to Florida in 1990.  Things that we loved about that particular store included:

• it was open 24 hours a day, everyday, year-round except for shortened hours on Thanksgiving and Christma
• it was very well stocked with a wide variety of what we wanted. Also, they were very responsive in stocking what they did not have.  If I asked for ponchos that they didn't sell, or any particular brand of whatever that they did not stock, those items were in the store the on my next visit (not the case at Publix. More than once their managers have asked what I would want in their stores, and then have failed to stock those items)
• the parking was great.  Big, open parking lot very close to the door.  Not diagonal parking, no crossing a "street" to get to the store, no grassing median's to block cart traffic
  
• the attitude of the whole staff, from top management all the way down to the clerks and stockers, was one of hard work.  I observed them for 18 years and they were always about doing their job and getting it done and getting it done right.  In comparison with other grocery stores, our Albertson's felt like it was run by professionals.  Winn Dixie is staffed with teenagers that sit in the aisles on stacks of unsotcked food and talk about last night, or text on their cell phones while bagging.  

So now we go to shop at the new Publix, closer to our home and a little bit snazzier in appearance.  But we lament, often, the loss of our Albertsons. 

Sometimes when I leave for Seminary at 5:30am I think about stopping by the store to pick up donuts for the kids, but then I have a brief panic when I realize that there are no stores open at that time of day.

We miss you, Albertson's!