The most likely buyer would be a private investment banking firm, says George Whalin, president of San Marcos, CA-based Retail Management Consultants. For example, Texas Pacific Group and Warburg Pincus LLC are buying Neiman Marcus for $5.1 billion. Capital Partners Inc., Cerberus Capital Management, LP, and Lubert-Adler and Klaff Partners acquired the 257-store Mervyns portfolio from Target Corp. last year for about $1.2 billion.

"I think any time you have a major supermarket chain, it's a pretty attractive purchase," Whalin says, without venturing how much the grocer could command. "They're pretty solid. They never lose money, and they almost never go out of business."

Another possible buyer, he tells GSR, could be the Cincinnati-based Kroger Co., which operates just over 2,500 units in 32 states. Kroger could be interested because most of its stores are on the East Coast, while Albertsons has more of a Western presence. European retailers could also look at Albertsons, Whalin says, so that they can get a foothold into the US market.