Westgate grocery is closing

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  • Monday, March 3, 2008 6:45am

The automatic doors of the Westgate Albertsons will slide shut for good at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 1.

Although corporate officials would not confirm the rumored closure time and date, store clerks have been delivering the news to shoppers who have patronized the store at 100th Avenue West and Edmonds Way since the 1980s.

News of the pending closure was reported in The Enterprise in September. According to national business sources, the store is a victim of corporate belt-tightening in markets Albertsons is not a dominant player.

Danielle Killpack, director of community and media relations, said Albertsons “would be more than happy to discuss what a wonderful relationship we’ve had with the … community” but said other than that, she had no comment.

Mike Schroeder, director of the Edmonds and Lynnwood stores, said he was bound by corporate policy and could not talk to the press, but “if clerks will talk to you, fine.”

Two clerks at the Edmonds store confirmed the rumored closure information. Items remaining on the sparsely stocked shelves will be divvied up among other Albertsons stores, commented one of the checkers last weekend.

All of the approximately 70 Edmonds’ store employees who wished to transfer within the company have been placed, another clerk added.

There has been considerable interest from a variety of businesses in leasing the approximately 35,000-square-foot property, according to Jennifer Gerend, Edmonds director of economic development. The land has multiple owners and the building is owned by an out-of-town party.

Killpack said the building owner was responsible for finding a new tenant after Albertsons’ lease expires at the end of 2005.

Among those taking a serious look at the property is Puget Consumer Co-op (PCC). “There still is a lot of work to do … questions that need answering … but it’s a market we’re interested in,” confirmed Trudy Bialic, public affairs manager.

“We’ve gotten lots of support from our members” for a full-service natural-foods store in this area, observed Bialic, who lives in Edmonds.

With nearly 40,000 members, the Seattle-based co-op is the largest consumer-owned natural food co-op in the United States. It has seven stores in the Seattle area; an eighth store will open in Redmond this spring.

Most of the stores operate in about 24,000-25,000 square feet of space so the Albertsons property is very large by PCC’s standards.

PCC would pose competition to neighboring QFC, but Bialic said most of the co-op’s sales come from its natural produce, meat, dairy and deli items and not so much from goods on the “center aisles” which hold staples and household supplies.

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