PORT ANGELES — The Haggen store in Port Angeles will permanently close today.
The closure date is nearly three weeks earlier than originally announced.
The store at 114 E. Lauridsen Blvd. will remain open today until the end of business hours or until the entire store is empty of merchandise, Haggen company spokeswoman Deborah Pleva said Wednesday.
The store stopped receiving new stock soon after the March announcement of its closure, and corporate officials said it would remain open until all stock inside was sold.
Initially, the closure was estimated to take place May 10, with its 67 employees laid off at that time, but customers flocked to purchase deeply discounted items, and the store shelves were soon emptied.
Pleva had no information on provisions for the employees.
In March, Haggen Northwest Fresh announced it would sell most of its stores to Albertsons and close others, including the Port Angeles store, which is the only Haggen grocery on the North Olympic Peninsula.
Bellingham-based Haggen accepted a bid from Albertsons to buy 29 of its 32 core stores for $106 million.
The remaining stores — in Oregon City, Puyallup and Port Angeles — were to be shuttered.
The Port Angeles grocery store had operated as part of the Albertsons chain until it was purchased by Haggen in late 2014 and updated with Haggen signs and colors in February 2015.
The chain reaction had begun in March 2014, when it was announced that Safeway had agreed to be acquired by an investment group led by Cerberus Capital Management, the owner of several supermarket chains, including Albertsons.
Federal regulators required the newly blended grocery store chains to sell some stores to avoid a monopoly, and Haggen bought 146 stores.
The small Washington chain of stores struggled to convert those stores before filing for bankruptcy protection and eventually selling its stores.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
