3 South Florida Groceries to Close

By Jaclyn Giovis, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Jun. 8–Albertson’s LLC, the supermarket chain partly controlled by private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP, will close three unprofitable South Florida stores by early August, the company said Wednesday.

The company, based in Lake Mary, Fla., announced plans this week to shutter 100 grocery stores nationwide because they are not performing well. About 7,000 employees are affected by the closures, and Albertson’s is working to retain employees in other store locations, said spokesman Shane McEntarffer.

Albertson’s currently operates 20 stores in South Florida. The ones that will close are at 9839 S. Military Trail in Boynton Beach, 7100 N. University Drive in Tamarac, and 4481 Lake Worth Road in Lake Worth, according to McEntarffer.

The company, he said, has begun marketing the properties to other potential anchor tenants.

Statewide, eight supermarkets will close, leaving Albertson’s with 96 locations. The unprofitable stores represent 8 percent of Albertson’s Florida stores but have accounted for only 4.8 percent of sales over the past year, according to a company release.

“Concentrating our resources on a base of solidly performing stores will allow Albertson’s to be more competitive and better serve the community,” said John Sheehan, president of Albertson’s LLC Florida division, in a written statement.

The new Albertson’s LLC was formed by a group including Cerberus, Kimco Realty Corp. and other firms after they agreed in January to buy 661 stores from the former Albertson’s Inc. Buyout firms are purchasing retailers for the value of their real estate and to cut their costs and boost their revenue before selling the operations to other companies or offering shares to the public.

Bloomberg News contributed to this report.

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