Ralphs to Lay Off 1,000; Merger With Food 4 Less Parent Cited

Ralphs Grocery Co., the No. 1 supermarket chain in Southern California, said Monday that it is laying off 1,000 predominantly part-time workers in the next 10 days.

The company said it plans to open 15 to 17 new Ralphs stores within the next 12 months and that laid-off employees will be given hiring preference for jobs at those stores.

The cutbacks are an adjustment to store closings made since the company’s $1.5-billion merger with Food 4 Less Supermarkets last year, the company said.

The layoffs, which amount to about 3% of the Compton-based company’s work force, will affect cashiers, clerks and some meat-cutters throughout the company’s Southern California operations.

Ralphs operates 277 Ralphs stores and 41 Food 4 Less stores in Southern California.

The company said the layoffs are necessary because it has closed 54 stores since it was acquired by the parent company of Food 4 Less Supermarkets, but kept most of those employees. As a condition of the merger, the California attorney general required the company to sell 27 Ralphs stores, and the company closed an additional 28 poorly performing supermarkets.

Last June, Ralphs was purchased by Yucaipa Cos., which then merged its Food 4 Less and Ralphs chains and named the combined company Ralphs Grocery Co. The merged company subsequently converted Food 4 Less’ Alpha Beta, Boys and Viva stores to the Ralphs format.

The company said the layoffs are not a reflection of its financial performance.

However, Ralphs has fallen short of sales targets it set immediately after the merger, company executives have said.