Albertsons combining 2 Texas divisions

Albertsons Cos. is combining two of its three divisions in Texas in a move company officials said will strengthen its buying power and its operational focus on stores in Houston and Louisiana, a spokeswoman told SN.

The transition, to take effect over the next three months, will consolidate marketing and merchandising functions of Albertsons’ Houston division with its Fort Worth-based Southern division and consolidate the divisions’ respective distribution centers. The move will not affect the United Supermarkets division, based in Lubbock.

Houston will continue as an operations office and Sidney Hopper, currently president of the Houston division, will continue as president of the Randalls banner, which operates 45 stores in Houston and Austin, Christine Wilcox, a spokeswoman for Albertsons, told SN. Stores in Louisiana previously under the Houston division will be overseen by Rick Sinconis, who has been named operations VP and general manager.

Albertsons previously made similar moves to appoint banner presidents focused on operations, including Joe Kelley at Star Markets, and Jim Wallace at Pavilions.

The Southern division, which will grow to 165 stores, will continue to be led by Dennis Bassler (left), its current president.

As a result of the move, Albertsons said it would close a distribution center in Telge, Texas primarily serving Randalls stores and instead service those stores out of its distribution center in Roanoke, Texas, which currently serves Tom Thumb and Albertsons stores in Greater Dallas. The company said it anticipates the consolidation of the distribution centers would be complete by late summer.

“There will be additional jobs added to our facilities in the DFW area, and our human resources team is actively working to align all Houston and Telge DC employees with those potential transfer options along with positions in Houston or elsewhere,” Wilcox said.