High-end grocer Gelson’s Markets of Encino has signed a purchase agreement for eight stores being closed by Haggen Food & Pharmacy, including one in Thousand Oaks. Another group of 28 stores in California and Nevada formerly operated by Haggen, including four in the Valley, are being acquired by discount warehouse chain Smart & Final LLC of Commerce. Both deals are subject to bankruptcy court approval since the Bellingham, Wash. chain filed for Chap. 11 last month. The Gelson’s acquisitions are all in pricey real estate markets such as Santa Monica, La Jolla and Laguna Beach. The Thousand Oaks store is located at 1736 W. Avenida De Los Arboles and was an Albertson’s before Haggen purchased it and 82 other grocery outlets in the state earlier this year in an unsuccessful expansion bid. The Smart & Final deal includes stores in the Valley cities of Newbury Park, Simi Valley, Palmdale and Westlake Village. Haggen announced last month that it would close all of its stores in Arizona, California and Nevada, including more than a dozen Valley locations. Its failed bid to grow from 18 stores and 16 pharmacies in Washington and Oregon to 146 stores and 106 pharmacies in five states grew out of a regulatory requirement that grocery giants Albertsons and Safeway sell off some locations before their planned merger.
