QFC will close 5 stores in state

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

By KRISTEN MILLARES BOLT
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Quality Food Centers is closing five Washington stores by the end of May, citing poor sales for its plans to shut down locations in Federal Way, Midway, Burien, Rainier Beach and Vancouver.

STORY UPDATE

Saar's will move into two vacant QFC stores

"The current sales volumes at these stores did not allow product offerings and customer services that best represent QFC," President Donna Giordano said in a statement. "It will allow us to expand in other areas, ensuring that our customers' high expectations are met in any QFC store they choose to shop."

The company's statement did not give a definitive answer to the future of those five stores' employees, although it said, "It is certainly our plan to relocate as many of them to other locations when and where it is possible."

Local QFC spokesman Dean Olson was unavailable for comment because of his involvement in a golf tournament, according to his assistant. Employees at the closing QFCs said that they would be meeting with their supervisors on Friday to find out their employment status. Calls to the United Food and Commercial Workers were not returned.

The fate of the five spaces that QFC, which is owned by Ohio-based Kroger Co., will leave empty remains unconfirmed. Richard Loman, Burien's economic development manager, said a grocery store called Market Foods will take QFC's 43,600-square-foot building. The Rogers, Ark.-based chain was not available to confirm.

"They may be coming in just to test the market," said Loman, noting that the contract for the Burien space, which QFC was subleasing from Rite Aid Co., ends June 30, 2008. "Most grocers want a longer term."

No retailers, whether supermarket or otherwise, are lined up for the Federal Way location, according to a source close to the deal. The 55,000-square-foot building, part of a 4.8-acre site at the corner of Pacific Highway South and South 312th Street, is owned by a limited liability corporation that is affiliated with Beverly Hills-based Kimco Realty Co, according to the source.

In Seattle, QFC is leaving its Queen Anne location at 100 Republican St. to anchor a nearby luxury condominium and retail development at 500 Mercer St. with a 40,000-square-foot store. After the closures, QFC will operate 79 stores in Washington and Oregon.