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Smart & Final may take over Haggen location in Burbank

This April photo shows the newly-opened Haggen supermarket on the 3800 block of West Verdugo in Burbank. Last week, the Bellingham, Wash.-based grocery chain that took over 146 Albertsons, Vons, Pavilions and Safeway stores throughout California, Washington, Oregon, Arizona and Nevada, announced that it had received the court’s approval for the sale of more than 30 California stores.

This April photo shows the newly-opened Haggen supermarket on the 3800 block of West Verdugo in Burbank. Last week, the Bellingham, Wash.-based grocery chain that took over 146 Albertsons, Vons, Pavilions and Safeway stores throughout California, Washington, Oregon, Arizona and Nevada, announced that it had received the court’s approval for the sale of more than 30 California stores.

(Raul Roa / Staff Photographer)
By Chad Garland
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The Haggen Food & Pharmacy on West Verdugo Avenue in Burbank could soon become a Smart & Final store location, if the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of Delaware in Wilmington approves a deal between the companies on Tuesday.

Last week, the Bellingham, Wash.-based grocery chain that took over 146 Albertsons, Vons, Pavilions and Safeway stores throughout California, Washington, Oregon, Arizona and Nevada, announced that it had received the court’s approval for the sale of more than 30 California stores.

In two separate agreements, Haggen parted with the assets as part of its bankruptcy proceedings, which began with a filing in September. Encino-based Gelson’s Markets agreed to pay $36 million for the store leases and assets of eight stores. Commerce-based Smart & Final purchased the assets of 28 stores for $56 million in cash.

Haggen, which had been a small Pacific Northwest chain until it took over the stores earlier this year as part of a massive expansion, has had a rocky go throughout the Southwest. It announced its withdrawal from the region in September, along with plans to shed nearly all of its recently acquired stores as part of the bankruptcy filing.

The sale of 55 other locations for a total of $47 million, is still pending court approval. Among those stores are four that Haggen has agreed to sell to Smart & Final, including the Burbank location, which is slightly more than a mile from an existing Smart & Final store.

Founded more than 140 years ago, the low-cost chain currently operates 270 stores under the names Smart & Final, Smart & Final Extra and Cash & Carry Smart Foodserve in California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Nevada and Idaho.

Last week, it reported a third-quarter net income of $12.4 million, up from $10.2 million last year. Its sales grew to $1.3 billion, up 10.1%.

According to an announcement, the company plans to rebrand all 32 of the newly acquired locations as Smart & Final Extra stores, which are typically larger and carry more fresh produce than its traditional warehouse stores.

The conversion is expected to begin this year, pending court and other approvals, and is expected to be completed sometime in 2016.

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Chad Garland, chad.garland@latimes.com

Twitter: @chadgarland

Chad Garland

Chad Garland covered the city of Burbank and Bob Hope Airport for the Burbank Leader until 2016. Previously, he has covered Arizona’s congressional delegation in Washington, D.C., for Cronkite News Service and Oregon’s Legislature for the Associated Press. His work investigating questionable veterans’ charities as part of the award-winning News21 national investigative project “Back Home” earned a “Best in Business” award from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers in 2013. Before becoming a reporter, he spent more than a decade in various assignments related to national defense. An Illinois native, his first California address was at Marine Corps boot camp in San Diego. He has degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Arizona State University, as well as a diploma from the Army’s Defense Language Institute in Monterey, where he learned to speak Russian.

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