Is Albertsons going out of business in Florida?

I get a lot of folks finding Frugal Follies from Google who are asking this question, so I thought I'd let you know what I know about Albertsons in Florida.

Are they going completely out of business?  No, not completely.  However, quite a few stores have closed over the past two years.

In June 2008, Publix purchased 49 stores from Albertsons.  This included fifteen locations in North Florida, thirty in Central Florida, and four in South Florida.  Read about it here.

Another four stores were closed in October 2009 - stores in Lake Worth, Bonita Springs, Estero, and Riverview.  Click here for more information.

In January 2010, three stores in the Orlando area were closed and converted to Sedano's supermarkets.  Here's an article about it from the Miami Herald.

Another eight were closed in February 2010 - five locations in South Florida and three elsewhere.  The South Florida stores were in Pembroke Pines, Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Lake Worth, and Loxahatchee.  It's unclear to me whether the Lake Worth closing here and the Lake Worth closing listed in October 2009 are the same store.  Here is an article from the Sun-Sentinel about the closing.

I was sorry to see my local store close and for the people who lost their jobs.  But, I was able to get some really incredible deals at the closing sale.  Check out my finds here, here, and here.

Reports say there are around 20 Albertsons stores in Florida - I couldn't find a definitive list.  Using their store finder (which didn't work for me in Firefox), there appear to be no more stores left in the Miami area.  There's one in Oakland Park near Ft. Lauderdale, none in the West Palm Beach area, one in St. Lucie, 8 within 50 miles of Orlando area, and 6 within 50 miles of Tampa.  So there still are Albertsons stores in Florida - use the store finder to see if there are stores in your area.

Hope this helps!