Albertsons closes – Albertsons Companies has continued closing and marking locations for closure in 2026 as it reevaluates its store footprint after its failed $25 billion merger with The Kroger Company. At least a dozen locations have closed or been marked through 2026, with the
For shoppers, the change can be immediate: one morning there’s a familiar supermarket on the corner, and by the next stretch of days, the aisles are gone—or the closure signs are already appearing.
Albertsons Companies has continued closing stores in recent months as it reevaluates its store footprint after its failed merger with The Kroger Company. So far in 2026. at least a dozen locations have closed or have been marked for closure. based on an analysis of local media reports. online review platforms. and Albertsons’ own store locator tools.
The closures span Albertsons’ portfolio of grocery and supermarket chains. including Acme. Balducci’s. Randalls. Safeway. and Vons. as well as banner Albertsons stores. More than half of the closures are in California and Texas. with locations also shuttered in New Jersey. Connecticut. Nevada. and Washington. D.C.
The scale of the retail shift is part of a broader story about where large grocers believe demand is strongest—and where they no longer see a sustainable path.
As reported in April, Albertsons ended its 2025 fiscal year with 2,244 physical stores, a net decline of 26 compared with the previous year.
Food access tends to suffer when stores disappear. Researchers have documented the rise of food deserts in low-income areas, attributing the trend in part to industry consolidation.
Even with the latest round of closures, Albertsons says it expects to end its 2026 fiscal year with a net positive store count. The company also told Fast Company that it expects its current fiscal year to end in February 2027, and it anticipates a net increase in stores for that period.
Albertsons declined to say how many locations it expects to close this year, or how many jobs might be lost.
The company’s reasoning comes back to placement—opening new stores where it sees strong demand, while closing sites it views as less viable.
“[Our network positioning] includes opening new stores in areas with strong demand and long-term opportunity, while also making the difficult decision to close some locations,” Albertsons said in an emailed statement. “In these cases, we work to place as many associates as possible in other stores.”
The underlying dispute is tied to the merger that never happened. Albertsons spent two years planning to be acquired by its competitor Kroger in a $25 billion deal that would have created a 5. 000-store grocery behemoth. The companies abandoned the proposed merger in December 2024 after it was blocked by courts.
During that two-year process, an Albertsons spokesperson told Fast Company that the company slowed down potential optimization of its physical store footprint. That process, the spokesperson said, has since resumed.
Kroger, for its part, has also been closing locations across its store portfolio since the merger fell apart.
The result for shoppers is a changing local landscape—one store at a time.
According to the analysis, 11 of the 12 locations listed below have closed in recent months, with the additional location expected to close in August. The list includes stores across several Albertsons-owned chains and may not be a full count.
Acme
455 NJ-23, Sussex, NJ 07461
481 River Rd, Edgewater, NJ 07020 (closing in August)
Albertsons
1260 E Ontario Ave, Corona, CA 92881
6700 West Fwy, Fort Worth, TX 76116
1155 N Main St, Euless, TX 76039
1300 E Flamingo Rd, Las Vegas, NV 89119
Balducci’s
1385 Post Rd E, Westport, CT 06880
Randalls
5161 San Felipe St, Houston, TX 77056
Safeway
1601 Maryland Ave NE, Washington, DC 20002
231 W Jackson St Hayward, CA 94544
Vons
2345 E Valley Pkwy, Escondido, CA 92027
522 Orange St, Redlands, CA 92374
Albertsons’ store closures are unfolding alongside financial pressure. In addition to the failed merger. the grocery giant reported a net loss of $481 million during the fourth quarter of last year. That loss was largely due to a $774 million lawsuit settlement tied to allegations that Albertsons pharmacies did not do enough to prevent opioid abuse. Albertsons said that in reaching the settlement, it admitted no wrongdoing.
Operationally, the company’s “identical sales” metric grew by 2% last year, while digital sales were up 21%.
The competitive pressure is broader than any single deal. Supermarket chains have faced rising competition from big-box retailers like Walmart and Costco, as well as e-commerce giant Amazon—one of the reasons Albertsons and Kroger pursued a merger in the first place.
Market sentiment has reflected that strain. Shares of Albertsons Companies Inc (NYSE: ACI) have fallen roughly 27% over the past 12 months. The stock was trading at $16.21 when the markets closed on Friday and has far underperformed the S&P 500 this year.
This story is developing and may be updated with additional locations and details.
Albertsons store closures Kroger merger food deserts retail grocery ACI stock fiscal year 2026 Safeway Vons Randalls Acme Balducci's