Albertsons LLC to Close Its Online Grocery Business

Albertsons LLC will close its online grocery delivery services in San Francisco, Sacramento, Dallas-Fort Worth and Phoenix on July 21, a company official said Thursday.

In June, Supervalu Inc. led a consortium that included drugstore chain CVS Corp., private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management and others to buy Boise-based Albertsons Inc. for $9.7 billion in cash and stock plus assumed debt, bringing the total transaction to about $17.4 billion.

Albertsons LLC, formed by private investors, acquired what were called underperforming stores owned by Albertsons.

Supervalu, based in Minnesota, took over the more profitable stores in Boise, Seattle, San Diego, the Los Angeles area, Portland, Ore., Las Vegas, Salt Lake City and Vancouver, Wash. Those stores will continue to offer online shopping.

“Online grocery shopping is another channel through which we are able to deliver convenience to our customers, and it will continue to be an important part of our business going forward,” said Shannon Bennett, a SuperValu spokeswoman.

Albertsons used store workers to fill online shopping orders. The company said it is trying to place them in other jobs.