Yesterday, September 8th, Haggen, Inc and several of its other business entities filed for Chapter 11 (reorganization) bankruptcy protection in United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.
In the company press release, Haggen CEO John Clougher said,
After careful consideration of all alternatives, the company concluded that a reorganization through the Chapter 11 process is the best way for Haggen to preserve value for all stakeholders. The action we are taking will allow us to continue to serve our customers and communities while providing Haggen with a process to realign our operations to be positioned for the future.
Haggen has operated a store in Ferndale since 1997 and is one of two full-size grocery stores in the city, with recently opened Grocery Outlet being the other.
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Click for more informationIn December 2014, Haggen went from operating 18 stores to over 150 after acquiring 146 locations from Albertsons and Safeway. In July, Albertsons sued Haggen for failing to pay for millions of dollars of inventory. Last month Haggen announced it would be closing 27 stores by October. September 1st, Haggen filed a $1 billion lawsuit against Albertsons in federal court citing “malicious and unfair actions.”
Clougher is no stranger to the process of bankruptcy reorganization. According to an article in the Bellingham Business Journal,
Clougher and a team from Whole Foods took on management roles at Andronica’s in 2011, after the store declared bankruptcy, and brought it back to life.
“I had a lot of fun the past few years really bringing Andronico’s back to its heyday through basic retail strategies around fresh food and quality customer service,” Clougher said. “I’m really proud of what we did there.”