Bend’s two Haggen stores to close, become Albertsons — again

In one of the oddest chapters in Central Oregon and Northwest supermarket history, Bend’s two Haggen grocery stores will close Wednesday, reopening eight days later as Albertsons — their name for decades, until the Bellingham, Wash.-based grocery retailer’s troubled acquisition of 146 stores around the region.

The transition of the Northeast Third Street and South Highway 97 stores will take about a week, and they are expected to reopen June 16, said Jill McGinnis, a spokeswoman for Albertsons’ Portland Division.

“Both of the Haggens in Bend, on 3rd Street as well as Hwy 97, will be closing tomorrow to begin the exciting change back to Albertsons. It will take about a week, with an expected opening date of June 16th.

“We are here to stay!” McGinnins told NewsChannel 21 in an email.

“Between the two stores, we are adding approximately 66 new employees,” along with those existing employees who stay aboard for the transition, McGinnis said, adding, “We are proud of being able to bring additional jobs in to the Bend area.”

The stores, which now employ 116 workers, will have 182 when the positions are all filled, McGinnis said. She said that is part of a goal of “better customer service, expanded departments (and) increased staffing in fresh departments.”

“The remodels will include a lot of upgrades that might take closer to a month to fully complete,” she added. When complete, ribbon-cuttings will be held, with the public invited..

Earlier this year, a Delaware bankruptcy judge approved Albertsons’ bid to take over what was left of Haggen, a small grocery chain that acquired 146 Albertsons stores when federal officials required the shedding of stores for Albertsons and Safeway to merge — a troubled deal that led to complaints of higher prices, as well as court fights between the two companies. Haggen accused Albertsons of sabotaging the deal, and by fall, Haggen was in bankruptcy court.