Albertsons is laying off more than 150 Safeway corporate workers in California, the grocer disclosed in regulatory notices filed last month.
According to WARN notices filed Jan. 14, the company will eliminate 156 workers at a pair of offices in Pleasanton, California. The job cuts will go into effect on Feb. 22.
An Albertsons spokesperson said in an email to Grocery Dive about the layoffs that it has laid off workers in its corporate and division support workforce in an effort to cut back on its general and administrative expenses but did not provide details about the California layoffs.
While Albertsons would not disclose how many employees were laid off or when, the company said that “no store-level associates” were part of these cuts. Impacted employees were provided “comprehensive support,” which includes severance packages with extended benefits and career support services, the spokesperson added.
In mid-January, Albertsons confirmed corporate layoffs at its office in Phoenix, with WARN notices stating that 225 Safeway employees based at the office were impacted.
The layoffs come after the grocery company posted modest third-quarter results following its failed merger with Kroger. During its call with investors in early January, CEO Vivek Sankaran said Albertsons has “got to accelerate our growth rates to compete with the very, very best in the industry.” He also said the chain is looking to cut $1.5 billion in spending over the next three years.
Separately, WARN notices filed at the end of last year and in recent weeks indicate that two Safeway stores will shutter — one in Rockville, Maryland, and another in San Francisco. A Safeway compounding pharmacy in San Jose, California, is also set to close. The notices state that 205 employees will be impacted.
Albertsons did not comment on these closures.
The Maryland Safeway store is scheduled to permanently close in April and, later this year, a new Wegmans store is slated to open less than half a mile away, local news site The Mocoshow reported. Axios San Francisco reported that the San Francisco Safeway will permanently close on Friday.
Catherine Douglas Moran contributed reporting to this story.
