Albertsons LLC to Close 11 Stores, Sell Florida DC

ELLIOT ZWIEBACH

BOISE, Idaho — Albertsons LLC here said Friday it plans to close eight underperforming stores in Florida in mid-February and three Colorado stores in early March. The closures will reduce the chain's store count to 20 in Florida and 22 in Colorado, with 234 stores overall.

Of the eight Florida stores, three are near Orlando (Melbourne, Oviedo and Sanford); two are in the Palm Beach area (Loxahatchee and Lake Worth); and the others are farther south in Boca Raton, Delray Beach and Pembroke Pines. The three Colorado stores — which the company said are underperforming and for which it has accepted a purchase offer from an out-of-state buyer it declined to identify — are in Centennial, Denver and Littleton.

In other news, Albertsons LLC said it has agreed to sell its 1 million-square-foot distribution center in Plant City, Fla., to Gordon Food Service, Grand Rapids, Mich., though it will lease back a portion of the facility to continue to provide perishables to its Florida store base, with groceries coming from the Quincy, Fla., facility owned by Minneapolis-based Supervalu under a new supply agreement and nonfoods from Albertson's Ponca City, Okla., distribution center.

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