Albertsons buys Everett store from Haggen; Monroe store in limbo

Albertsons received court approval Wednesday to purchase 10 stores in Washington from Haggen, including the one at 7601 Evergreen Way in Everett.

But Albertsons withdrew a bid for the Haggen store at 19881 U.S. 2 in Monroe after the company couldn’t reach a deal with the landlord, said Deborah Pleva, a Haggen spokeswoman.

What will happen with the Monroe store isn’t known.

U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware approved the sale of 47 Haggen stores. The deals include stores in Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona and Nevada, according to a Haggen press release.

The transactions aren’t final and are subject to “certain conditions,” the press release said.

If those conditions are met, Albertsons is in line to buy 30 of the stores; Smart &Final and Sprouts Farmers Market are approved for four stores each; and Tawa Inc. will get three stores. Albertsons has indicated that it wants to convert the store on Evergreen Way back to a Safeway.

The following companies will each get one store: Yoke’s Foods, Tustin Safe, Regency Centers, Donahue Schriber Realty Group, Good Food Holdings and Stater Bros. Markets.

Bellingham-based Haggen held an auction for the stores and about 50 others this month to cut losses and reorganize under Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

During the auction, Haggen received bids on 55 stores totaling $47 million, according to a press release. Lease disagreements prevented the sale of the other eight stores, Pleva said.

Haggen bought the 47 stores earlier this year from Albertsons and Safeway as part of a 146-store deal. Albertsons and Safeway needed to sell the stores to gain Federal Trade Commission approval on a massive merger, which was completed in January.

Federal Trade Commission officials have said that before Albertsons can buy stores back from Haggen, the commission needs to review the deals.

In all, Haggen has sold 83 stores this month; the grocery chain also made package deals to sell eight stores to Burbank, California-based Gelson’s Market and 28 stores to Smart &Final, based in Commerce, California. The bankruptcy court approved those sales on Nov. 13., according to a Haggen press release.

Haggen went from owning 18 stores to 168 in the failed expansion earlier this year. After filing for bankruptcy in September, the company announced it would try to sell all but 37 profitable stores. Earlier this month, however, Haggen asked for court approval to auction all its remaining assets, including those profitable stores.

That auction would be Jan. 8, according to court filings.

Here are the approved sales in Washington:

• Albertsons — First Avenue S., Burien.

• Albertsons — Petrovitsky Road, Renton.

• Albertsons — Evergreen Way, Everett.

• Albertsons — NE Fourth Avenue, Renton.

• Albertsons — Aurora Avenue N., Shoreline.

• Albertsons — Bethel Road SE, Port Orchard.

• Albertsons — Pacific Avenue S., Spanaway/Tacoma.

• Albertsons — Point Fosdick Drive NW, Gig Harbor.

• Albertsons — Canyon Road East, Puyallup.

• Albertsons — Milton Way, Milton.