The company was founded in 1933 and maintained a primarily Northwestern footprint until recently. In late 2014, Haggen agreed to purchase and rebrand 146 West Coast Vons, Pavilions, Albertsons, and Safeway Inc. locations, increasing the chain's locations from 18 stores with 16 pharmacies to 164 stores with 106 pharmacies, and the number of its employees from about 2,000 to about 10,000. On September 1, Haggen filed suit against Albertsons for false representations and anti-competitive practices, and on September 8, Haggen Food & Pharmacy filed for bankruptcy.

Haggen is asking the bankruptcy court for approval to conduct store closing sales. All employees of the non-core stores and the Pacific Southwest support office will receive 60 day notice of the pending store and office closures. During this process, all stores will remain open.

“Haggen plans to continue to build its brand in partnership with its dedicated corporate support and store teams. Haggen has a long record of success in the Pacific Northwest and these identified stores will have the best prospect for ongoing excellence,” said John Clougher, CEO of Haggen Pacific Northwest. “Although this has been a difficult process and experience, we will remain concentrated in the Pacific Northwest where we began, focusing on fresh Northwest products and continuing our support and involvement in the communities we serve.”

Haggen says it intends to re-build its operations around a core group of successful stores made up of 37 stores in the Pacific Northwest. The core stores include 16 of Haggen's historical stores, one stand-alone pharmacy and 21 stores acquired in the 2014 Albertson's transaction. Haggen say's its historical stores have seen strong sales growth over the past year, and that the 21 newly-acquired stores have proven successful under the Haggen banner.