Supervalu announces additional store closures

MINNEAPOLIS — Supervalu on Wednesday afternoon announced it will close approximately 60 underperforming or nonstrategic stores this fiscal year, including 38 in its retail food reporting segment and 22 Save-A-Lot locations. The majority of the stores are expected to close before Dec. 1, which marks the end of the company’s fiscal 2013 third quarter.

"These decisions are never easy because of the impact a store closure has on our team members, our customers and our communities," Supervalu chairman, president and CEO Wayne Sales said. "Today's announcement reflects our commitment to move with a greater sense of urgency to reduce costs and improve shareholder value."

The company owns the real estate for approximately one-third of the retail food stores being closed. The closures in the retail food segment include 27 Albertsons stores (19 in Southern California, including one previously announced location, and eight in the Intermountain West region), four Acme stores and one previously announced Jewel-Osco location.

Eight additional stores are included in this announcement but due to ongoing contractual discussions the specific details of each store are not being disclosed at this time, Supervalu stated. All eight are expected to close by the end of Supervalu's fiscal year Feb. 23, 2013.