Dive Brief:

• The Raley’s Companies is laying off 47 employees as part of a corporate downsizing, Phoenix Business Journal reported last week. 
• On Thursday, the grocery company, which has roughly 21,000 total employees, notified staffers that 72 corporate employees working in administrative support positions would have their jobs cut, but has since offered roles within its stores to 25 of the impacted workers, a Raley’s spokesperson told the news outlet. The cuts affect several operating divisions including Bashas’ and DTC produce subscription box fieldTrue.
• The company is also cutting 38 administrative support jobs that are open, the paper reported. 

Dive Insight:

The layoff and job cuts come at a time when Raley’s is up against a challenging grocery market. 

The Raley’s Companies gave 48 workers severance packages based on years of service along with six months of COBRA medical coverage and support services, Chelsea Carbahal, a spokesperson for The Raley’s Companies said in an email. The layoffs did not impact any store team members, Carbahal said.

“The driving force behind this decision is a weakening economy caused by a set of macro-economic factors,” Carbahal wrote. “The Raley’s Companies is a market leader and well positioned to withstand economic headwinds. The changes we are making allow us to adjust our cost structure in light of a tightening grocery market.”   

Carbahal told Phoenix Business Journal that the grocery company made the job cuts as a “proactive” measure: “The grocery market in California is down between 4 and 5%, and we expect that to continue, so this is a proactive effort to work on our company expense structure and to continue our position in the market.”

Spending at grocery stores ticked up 0.9% in December compared with the same month in 2022, according to estimated figures published by the U.S. Census Bureau. Grocery sales were up 0.2 in December compared with the month before. In comparison, overall retail sales rose at a 0.6% monthly rate in December and posted a 5.6% year-over-year gain.

California-based Raley’s acquired Arizona-based Bashas’ at the end of 2021 and established a new entity called The Raley’s Companies to oversee the Raley’s and Bashas’ operating divisions with Keith Knopf, formerly the head of Raley’s Holding Company, at the helm as president and CEO.

A year later, The Raley’s Companies announced plans for a new Bashas’ Support Center in Chandler, Arizona, noting that the office would serve as the hub for merchandising and operations for Bashas’, Food City, AJ’s Fine Foods, Eddie’s Country Store, and Bashas’ Diné grocery stores

At the beginning of 2023, The Raley’s Companies named former VSP Vision executive Tiffanie Burkhalter as its new CFO, taking over the role from Ken Mueller, who perished in a plane crash in September 2022.