Auction process begins for Haggen’s non-core stores

It promises to be an interesting week for Bellingham-based grocer Haggen as it begins to auction off most of its non-core stores.

The auction began on Monday, Nov. 9 and is scheduled to go through Wednesday, Nov. 11, according to court documents filed in relation to Haggen’s recent Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Many of the Washington and Oregon stores up for auction are scheduled to be auctioned off Nov. 11, while the the Arizona, Southern California and Nevada stores are scheduled for Nov. 9-10.

No Haggen stores in Whatcom County are up for auction; the ones in Washington are in the Seattle, Tacoma, Aberdeen and Bremerton areas.

One interesting baseline bidder for many of the Washington stores is Albertsons, which originally sold the stores to Haggen at the beginning of the year in a 146-store package that eventually led to Haggen filing Chapter 11 reorganization in September. In the 12 Washington stores that Albertsons is bidding on, the baseline bids range from $1 each for the Burien, Renton, Spanaway, Puyallup and Milton locations to $1.7 million for a second store in Renton.

While Albertsons has established a baseline bid on 36 stores, many other bidders are expected to bid on these locations.

In an email statement, Haggen said it “anticipates an active auction for the sale of the remainder of the non-core stores that were marketed for sale.”

Haggen’s previously announced sale of eight stores to Gelsen’s and 28 to Smart & Final did not have anyone else bid higher, so that sale will be presented to the bankruptcy court for approval at a hearing on Friday, Nov. 13. Haggen has said it was selling one Nevada and 27 Southern California stores to Smart & Final LLC and eight Southern California stores to Gelson’s Markets for more than $90 million.

The auction process is being done as Haggen attempts to shrink back to around 37 stores, completely leaving the California, Arizona and Nevada markets.

This story was originally published November 9, 2015 at 5:15 PM with the headline "Auction process begins for Haggen’s non-core stores."