In the sleazy underworld of corporate criminals taking advantage of one another, it would seem Albertsons reigns supreme. And not because it spawned a grocery store or two in every town on the Central Coast.
Sometimes, I just want a local grocery store, you know, not some mad dash into a corporate store where it takes my in-a-hurry birdy self 30 minutes to buy a bag of brown sugar and a bottle of water.
I mean, come on! I just needed it to bake a cake. It was the only thing I was missing. Fluttering in line behind that one guy who’s buying everything that’s on sale in bulk is not my idea of a quick trip to the grocery store.
Now, some of those familiar Albertsons stores are Haggen property, and although the lovely, lit-up cursive writing changed from that sweet sky blue to deep forest green, they’re still the same corporate stores they’ve always been—unless, of course, it’s one of the stores Haggen’s decided to close.
Haggen purchased 146 stores in California and other Western states from Albertsons and Safeway earlier this year. The deal helped settle Federal Trade Commission worries that a $9.6 billion merger between the giants would make the markets anticompetitive across the land. Apparently several of those communities were on the Central Coast—where Albertsons blue and Vons red haunt street corners in every city, looming over residents and forcing them to buy, buy, BUY.
Haggen bought stores in SLO, Los Osos, Paso Robles, Atascadero, Arroyo Grande, and Lompoc. The settlement is something FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez said would ensure that “consumers in those communities will continue to benefit from competition among their local supermarkets.”
How perfect.
“Absent a remedy [the Albertsons/Vons] acquisition would likely lead to higher prices and lower quality for shoppers in 130 communities,” she said.
Not to worry everyone, Ramirez and the FTC have our back. Anticompetitiveness isn’t going to happen on her watch.
In April, Haggen spokesperson Moran Golan told the Sun that the store would honor the same pay and union contracts that were in place when Albertsons was the owner.
Much to no one’s suprise, the promise Haggen made to keep employees on staff and prices the same was thrown out the window as soon as the Washington-based company walked in the door. California customers saw higher prices and lower inventory levels. Haggen laid off lots of employees.
Before Haggen took out what must have been an unimaginably gigundous-sized loan, it had a whopping 18 stores sparsely dotted across the Pacific Northwest. Who knew adding 146 stores (83 in Cali) to that number and opening them all at the same time would be so hard? I bet Albertsons knew.
Almost as soon as Haggen started taking over those spaces, it announced the impeding closure of 27 of its newly acquired spots, including 16 in California—one of which will leave a vacant building in Los Osos.
And then the deal started falling apart—Albertsons slapped Haggen with a lawsuit in July, demanding $36 million and some change because it said Haggen refused to pay for inventory at 32 of the stores it acquired. Albertsons accused Haggen of waiting until the deal closed on all 146 stores before telling the big boy in blue that it wasn’t going to pay for the inventory.
“Haggen’s acts were fraudulent in nature and done with malice and willful disregard for Alberstons’ rights,” the lawsuit said (according to the LA Times).
No one feels sorry for Albertsons, right? I mean, now that Vons and Albertsons are in bed together, its part of a grocery store empire that’s threatening to take over the world, much like Pinky and The Brain.
Now, Haggen’s trying to take its child-sized corporate foot and stomp on that empire. It’s suing Albertsons and its parent company for $1 billion in damages.
Albertsons, I don’t think you’re going to recoup that inventory money. A statement on Haggen’s website accuses Albertsons of engaging in an “illegal campaign against Haggen.” The accusations include “premeditated acts of unfair and anti-competitive conduct that were calculated to circumvent Albertsons’ obligations under federal antitrust laws, FTC orders, and contractual commitments.”
Really, you don’t think you just got in over your head?
“Despite Haggen’s plans to successfully operate and expand upon the acquired stores,” the website said, it couldn’t.
Claims include the assertion that Albertsons pricing data caused Haggen to unknowingly inflate prices. Hmmm. Did you do any market research before taking over 146 stores? The forest-green-colored little guy also accuses big blue of diverting customers. Maybe customers have never heard of you before and prefer to shop at stores they know? Complaints also include overstocking of perishable items and understocking of other items before takeover, removal of store fixtures, a lack of maintenance, and timing the remodel of some of its stores to coincide with Haggen coming into the market.
I bet Haggen’s rethinking that decision to purchase an obscene amount of stores, and the FTC apparently dropped the ball.
And to top it all off, another lawsuit was recently thrown into the mix by the Santa Barbara-based Anticouni & Associates. The suit was filed on behalf of Debbie Sukiasian, a former Haggen employee responsible for making sure checkstand and shelf pricing were identical. According to a press release, those prices were always off: Sukiasian notified Santa Barbara-area company execs and then Bill Shaner, Haggen’s CEO, who the suit alleges never fixed the problem.
In an email to Shaner, Sukiasian stated that “Santa Barbara County stores were overcharging for hundreds of items every day” because of the price differences at checkout, the press release said. According to the release, Haggen terminated Sukiasian the next day.
Things don’t look good from where I’m flying.
The Canary was thinking about getting a job at Haggen, but is now glad she didn’t. Send comments to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Sep 10-17, 2015.
