Supervalu to Move Jobs Out of Boise

MARIA TORTORETO

BOISE, Idaho — Supervalu will move approximately 400 jobs from the Albertsons' headquarters here to Minneapolis, Supervalu's home base, the company said earlier this month.

The announcement was part of an updated plan to consolidate Supervalu's corporate functions with those from Albertsons, which Supervalu acquired in June.

“Our associates are our No. 1 asset,” said Haley Meyer, spokeswoman for Supervalu. “We are encouraging these Boise associates to apply for positions in Minneapolis.”

The 400 jobs being relocated make up Albertsons' merchandising and marketing departments, which will transition over the next six to 18 months. The relocation will allow the company to “fully harness the power of collaboration and help serve our customers better and more profitably,” Meyer said. “This decision included consideration of many business factors including costs of doing business and accessibility to the vendor community.”

Supervalu plans to maintain leadership positions in the finance, information technology, human resources, legal and real estate departments in both locations.

The Intermountain West division of Supervalu will continue to be based in Boise, and the Boise distribution center will continue to operate. In total, there are currently over 5,600 employees in Boise, and 1,800 in Minneapolis, according to Meyer.

For now, all facilities in Boise will remain open, but “based on the needs of the business we will continue to evaluate our facility needs in Boise,” Meyer said.

According to a Nov. 4 article in the Idaho Statesman, Supervalu will stop leasing office space in Boise and will consolidate all offices into its main building.

“Any time you lose jobs like that it's a bad thing, but it could be worse,” said Paul Hiller, executive director of the Boise Valley Economic Partnership. “We anticipated that with the acquisition, changes would have to be made. Nobody just buys a company and maintains the status quo indefinitely. In a sense, we got off pretty easy.”

With half a million people in the Boise metro area, Hiller believes the loss won't have much impact on the economy, and he remains hopeful for Supervalu's future in the city. “We're one of the ideal locations in the Western states for expansion,” he said. “Our population is growing rapidly, we have a vibrant downtown area, and I think that will have a great deal of appeal for Supervalu and other companies, because there is obviously a base of employees familiar with the supermarket industry.”