Residents Saddened by Store’s Plans to Close

A longtime Albertsons supermarket will close its doors in two weeks, leaving many residents, including several senior citizens, without a neighborhood grocery.

“I’ve been coming here for years,” said 75-year-old Jim Wetzel, as he left the market on El Camino Real with bags in hand. “Some prices are terribly high at the other end of town. I’m very disappointed to lose this sucker.”

This is the third grocery store in San Clemente to close in the last several years, said city economic development director David Lund.

“We’re concerned,” Lund said. Albertsons “is strategically located in an area that needs a grocery store. Many of the folks that live in that area don’t have transportation available to them.

“Now, those folks are going to have problems because the closest store is a mile to a mile and half away.”

The 33-year-old market is too small to include a pharmacy and bank that most Albertsons now incorporate, said Jenny Enochson, spokeswoman for Boise, Idaho-based Albertson’s Inc. The average Albertsons is about 45,000 square feet, more than double the size of the local store.

“The decision was not based on our store performance,” Enochson said. “It was plain and simple, we cannot offer what we normally offer to our customers in a store that size.”

The company is considering a new location for an Albertsons in the area, which would take at least six months to build, she said.

“We like the area and would like to do business there in the future,” Enochson said.

Meanwhile, Albertsons’ 45 employees have been offered positions at nearby stores, none of which are in San Clemente.