BELLINGHAM, WA – With the Safeway/Albertsons merger now closed, Haggen is preparing to start rebranding its 146 new stores.

As we previously reported, this Washington-based retailer is acquiring these new stores as part of Safeway/Albertsons’ consent order from the Federal Trade Commission, which made the retailers divest the stores to ensure that the merger would not reduce competition and ultimately hurt consumers.

The stores that Haggen is acquiring are located in Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. As part of the consent order, the divestitures must be completed within 150 days of the date of the merger.

The Lompoc Record is reporting that the Albertsons store in Lompoc, California and the 11 other stores in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties are now officially Haggen stores, and the rebranding is expected to begin soon.

Haggen Spokesperson Deborah Pleva told the Record that the rebranding efforts in California will start from north to south, and the company plans to keep management teams and retain existing employees.

If you aren’t familiar with Haggen, make sure to check out our previous article, ‘Haggen: 5 Things You Need to Know.’

For now, it is unclear when the rebranding for all of the new stores will be completed. Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow for the latest updates.

Haggen