“We have made the decision to exit the greater Philadelphia market, including four stores in New Jersey, and focus our resources in those operating areas where we have a stronger presence,” said Steve Neibergall, president of Safeway's Eastern Division, in a separate statement. “We will be working with the purchasers to ease the transition for our store employees and making efforts to facilitate continued employment for as many of them as possible.”

The sale doesn’t come as much of a surprise to observers. “It’s not a secret that Safeway has been looking for an exit strategy for a while,” Rick Weinberg, a senior director of Plymouth Meeting, PA-based Fameco Real Estate, tells GlobeSt.com. The stores’ acquisition by a company familiar with the region “is a positive for Giant and the area.”

Likely replacements for the shuttered stores would include other grocers, followed by discounters or dollar stores. Another possibility is a nonretail use, such as a church, mixed-use or even an office, Weinberg adds.

The situation isn’t unusual, says an industry consultant. “That’s pretty much the story with whatever Safeway has bought,” says Waukesha, WI-based supermarket consultant David J. Livingston. “They buy it, they milk it and they shrink it. The same thing happened with Randalls in Houston and Tom Thumb in Dallas. Sales plummeted and continue to plummet. They paid $1.8 billion for Dominick’s [in 1998]. It may be worth $300 million now.”

Transitioning from a family-run regional operation to a centralized national company invariably hurts employee morale and product selection, Livingston notes.

“Any time you have an acquisition, even with a good company buying a good company, you’re going to drop 20% in sales,” he says.

Giant Food is a subsidiary of Ahold USA. Safeway says it will continue to operate the stores until the deal is closed. Safeway did not respond to an interview request by press time.