EVERETT – The parent of Smart Value grocery store in Everett has pulled the plug on the store after it didn’t rack up hoped-for sales.
The discount supermarket at 8104 Evergreen Way, next to the Big Kmart store, opened in late 2005. At 22,000-square-feet, it offered more limited selection than other supermarkets with a no-frills approach.
It was one of only two Smart Value stores that Smart &Final Inc. had opened nationwide, said company spokesman Randall Oliver.
“This store was a test of a new concept for us. It had not met our expectations for profitability, so we closed it,” Oliver said. “It’s just part of the normal course of business.”
He added that Smart &Final’s other local markets, the Cash &Carry stores in Everett and Lynnwood, aren’t in danger of closing.
Bert Hambleton, an Issaquah-based analyst of the grocery industry, said he’s not shocked by the closure of the Smart Value store.
“Smart &Final as a company isn’t in the best of shape. They’ve been experimenting with several things to improve their position,” he said.
The parent company, which operates more than 200 warehouse-style stores in the Western U.S. and Mexico, also was recently acquired. Apollo Management LP, a private equity partnership, bought it last month for $813 million. Oliver said the change in ownership, however, had nothing to do with the decision to close the store.
A new discount supermarket, WinCo Foods, opened earlier this month in Marysville.
Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.
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