If your local Albertsons or Safeway recently closed — or you’ve seen headlines about store shutdowns and job cuts — it’s fair to wonder whether the whole chain is on its way out.
The short answer is no. Albertsons is not going out of business as a company. But there is real stuff happening: specific stores are closing, thousands of workers are affected, and the collapse of a major merger deal left the company in a tough spot.
Here’s a clear breakdown of what’s actually going on.
Albertsons as a Company Is Still Operating
Albertsons Companies is one of the largest grocery operators in the United States. It runs thousands of stores across more than 30 states under multiple brand names — including Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s, Acme, Tom Thumb, Randalls, and Pavilions.
The company was founded in 1939 in Boise, Idaho. It went public on the NYSE in June 2020 after a period of private ownership. As of now, there has been no bankruptcy filing, no liquidation announcement, and no indication that the entire company is shutting down.
What there has been is restructuring — and that’s where the confusion starts.
The Kroger Merger Failed — and That Left Albertsons in a Difficult Position
In October 2022, Kroger and Albertsons agreed to a $24.6 billion merger. If it had gone through, it would have created the largest supermarket operator in the country.
To satisfy antitrust regulators, the companies planned to sell off nearly 600 stores to C&S Wholesale Grocers. That plan didn’t work. A federal judge and at least one state court blocked the deal, ruling that it would reduce competition and likely push up prices for consumers.
On December 11, 2024, Kroger and Albertsons officially terminated the merger agreement.
That left Albertsons as an independent operator — still carrying costs tied to the failed merger process, without the scale it was counting on, and under pressure to cut costs and restructure on its own. That pressure is why you’re seeing store closures and job cuts in the news.
Which Stores Are Actually Closing
The closures are targeted and regional. This is not a company-wide shutdown.
The Safeway Closures in Colorado, Nebraska, and New Mexico
In 2023–2024, Albertsons closed 12 Safeway stores: 10 in Colorado, 1 in Nebraska, and 1 in New Mexico. More than 600 workers were affected. Many of these locations had originally been on the list to be sold to C&S Wholesale Grocers as part of the Kroger merger plan.
When the merger was blocked, Albertsons held onto those stores — then later decided to close some of them. Industry coverage has described this as part of the “post-merger fallout,” as the company adjusts to being an independent operator without a buyer lined up for those locations.
At the same time, Albertsons merged its Intermountain and Denver divisions into a new Mountain West Division. That kind of regional consolidation is a cost-cutting move, not a sign of collapse.
The North Texas Closures
Two Albertsons locations in North Texas are also closing. The stores are at 1155 N. Main Street in Euless and 6700 W. Freeway in Fort Worth. Both are scheduled to close on or before April 25, 2026, according to WARN filings. A total of 138 employees are affected.
Local reporting notes that an H-E-B is planned for the Euless area, which gives you a sense of the competitive pressure these stores face. Shoppers in the area also have access to nearby Aldi and Tom Thumb locations.
Broader 2025 Closures
Roughly 20 stores closed across the country in 2025 as Albertsons adjusted its store footprint. That’s not a trivial number — but it’s a far cry from a full-scale corporate shutdown.
Think of it like a national restaurant chain that closes 20 underperforming locations while still running hundreds of others. The closures are real, but they don’t equal the end of the business.
Why Albertsons Is Closing Specific Locations
There’s no single reason. In most cases, it’s a combination of factors:
- Underperforming stores with thin margins. Grocery is a low-margin business. Stores that consistently lose money or break even are expensive to keep open.
- Overlapping locations. After years of acquisitions — including buying Safeway in 2015 — Albertsons ended up with multiple stores in the same markets. Some of that overlap no longer makes financial sense.
- Shifting competition. Shoppers have more options than ever: Walmart supercenters, Aldi, Costco, Amazon, and strong regional players like H-E-B. Traditional grocery chains are under constant pressure to compete on both price and convenience.
- Post-merger fallout. Some stores that were earmarked for sale during the Kroger deal were never quite integrated back into Albertsons’ long-term plans. When the merger collapsed, the company had to decide what to do with them — and for some, the answer was closure.
- Regional reorganization. Consolidating divisions reduces overhead. The new Mountain West Division is a practical example of Albertsons trying to run more efficiently without a merger to lean on.
What Happens to Employees When a Store Closes
When Albertsons closes a store, it typically files a WARN notice — that’s a legal requirement under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. It gives employees at least 60 days of advance notice before a mass layoff or plant closing.
Seeing a WARN notice doesn’t mean the entire company is failing. It means a specific location is shutting down and employees are getting the legally required heads-up. Some workers transfer to other Albertsons-owned stores. Others are laid off.
The 12 Safeway closures in 2023–2024 affected more than 600 workers. The two Texas closures will affect 138 employees. These are real impacts on real people — but they’re local events, not signs of a corporate collapse.
What This Means for Shoppers
If your local Albertsons or Safeway closes, the immediate disruption is real. You’ll need to transfer prescriptions, your loyalty rewards may need to move to a different account, and you’ll have a longer drive to the next grocery store.
In some areas — particularly lower-income neighborhoods — losing a full-service supermarket raises legitimate concerns about food access. In other areas, a replacement grocer moves in fairly quickly. The Euless situation is a good example: an H-E-B is reportedly planned nearby, which would be a strong replacement for most shoppers.
If you’re unsure about your local store, the most reliable signals are WARN filings, local news reports, and official announcements from Albertsons. Rumors and social media speculation aren’t a substitute for confirmed information.
Is Albertsons in Financial Trouble?
Albertsons faces real challenges. Grocery margins are thin, competition is intense, and the company spent years preparing for a merger that ultimately fell apart. Those merger-related costs don’t just disappear when a deal is terminated.
That said, as of the most recent public information available, Albertsons is not in bankruptcy and continues to operate a large network of stores across the country. Cost-cutting and store closures are the company’s response to competitive pressure — which is standard practice in retail, not an automatic sign of imminent failure.
For business professionals tracking the grocery sector, Albertsons’ situation reflects a broader reality: mid-tier grocery chains are getting squeezed from multiple directions. Walmart dominates on price. Costco wins on bulk value. Aldi undercuts on budget basics. Amazon owns the convenience-at-home play. Regional powerhouses like H-E-B outperform on customer loyalty. Competing against all of that without the scale of a Kroger merger is genuinely hard.
Resources like Young Business Mag cover these kinds of industry shifts and what they mean for business strategy — worth checking if you follow the retail space.
The Bottom Line
Albertsons is not going out of business. The company is restructuring — closing underperforming stores, consolidating regional divisions, and cutting costs after the collapse of its planned merger with Kroger.
Real stores are closing. Real workers are losing jobs. And real shoppers are losing their nearest supermarket. Those things matter and shouldn’t be dismissed.
But a company trimming its footprint is not the same as a company shutting down. Albertsons is adjusting to a difficult competitive environment while trying to remain viable as an independent operator. Whether it succeeds long-term depends on how well it executes that strategy — not on whether a handful of locations close in 2025 and 2026.
If you want to know whether your specific store is at risk, watch for local news coverage, WARN filings in your state, or official announcements from Albertsons directly. That’s the most reliable way to get a real answer.
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