By Pat Jenkins The Dispatch A grocery store in Spanaway that was once headed for closure in an ownership game of musical chairs is starting a new life this week the same as its first one GÇô as a Safeway store. A grand reopening was scheduled for Aug. 3 for the store located at 15805 Pacific Ave. S. Tairsa Worman, public affairs manager for Safeway, said the morning ceremony included a ribbon-cutting and a financial donation to a local charity. Worman said the store, led by director Brian Howard, will offer a "new fresh-cut program in our produce departmentGÇ¥ and a remodeled Starbucks. The store's employees will include people who worked there before it began changing hands last year. It was announced in December that the store would be purchased by the Albertsons grocery chain and operated as a Safeway. Albertsons, which owns Safeway, submitted a winning bid for that store and 11 others that were put on the auction block as part of Haggen's bankruptcy proceedings. The Spanaway was among the store closures in Washington initially announced by Haggen as part of the regional grocery chain's restructuring. The Bellingham-based company revealed in August 2015 that it would close or sell 25 locations in Washington, California, Arizona, Nevada and Oregon. Most of them were acquired by Haggen as part of a transaction in which Albertsons and Safeway divested 146 stores through a merger. Haggen subsequently filed for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which protects business assets during reorganizing. The company was also embroiled in lawsuits it filed against Albertson's and that Albertson's filed against Haggen over alleged details surrounding the store sales. Haggen, which was founded in 1933, does business in Washington as Haggen Northwest Fresh and TOP Food and Drug. The store in Spanaway was the only Haggen Northwest Fresh outlet in Washington among the ones here and in Oregon, California and Arizona that Haggen included on its closure list last August. The Spanaway store's odyssey began with its sale to Haggen chain as part of a merger of Safeway and Albertson's. The merger required Safeway and Albertson's to shed some of their stores. About 2,200 stores in 33 states remain. Of the 12 stores Albertson's bought back from Haggen via auction, three are in Pierce County GÇô Spanaway, the Summit-Puyallup area and Gig Harbor.
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