Haggen Food and Pharmacy has continued the bankruptcy auction despite having several of their stores being bought already.
The United States Bankruptcy Court has already confirmed that 36 stores were already sold to two buyers while the auction bid for the other 55 stores by multiple retailers will be reviewed by the court in late November.
28 of the 36 stores that were sold will be acquired by Smart & Final, Commerce, California for $56 million, while the other eight stores were bought by Gelson's Markets, Encino, California for $36 million.
According to News 3, the Idaho-based grocery store, Albertsons, which sold 146 of its stores to Haggen earlier this year is bidding on 33 of the 55 stores that are still available. These include 12 stores in Washington, 11 stores in California, four stores in Oregon, three stores in Nevada, and three stores in Arizona.
The Supermarket News also reported that the 55 stores will give the company more than $47 million on bids, but still needs the approval of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court at the Nov. 24 hearing.
Other companies that have put their bids on the remaining 22 stores include: Smart & Final bid on four additional stores located in California; Sprouts Farmers Market, Phoenix, with a bid on four stores in California; Tawa Supermarkets, Buena Park, California, with a bid on two stores in California and one in Oregon; Stater Bros. Markets, San Bernardino, California, with a bid on one store in California, and with bids for nine others in California and one in Oregon.
United Food and Commercial Workers International Union said that they will help the employees of the company to cope with the auction and with the transfer of ownership.
"We are completely committed to helping UFCW members and their families through this extremely difficult period," said UFCW. "No matter the next steps, we are a union family and we will face these challenges by standing together."
