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SUNDAY REOPENING Haggen prepares to replace Safeway in Ashland on Sunday Chain says it will emphasize buying products locally Comment By John Darling for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By John Darling for the Mail Tribune Posted May. 6, 2015 at 12:56 PM By John Darling for the Mail Tribune Posted May. 6, 2015 at 12:56 PM » Social News After nearly five decades, the Safeway name will disappear Thursday evening from 585 Siskiyou Blvd. in Ashland, to be replaced Sunday morning as a new Haggen store. Haggen has announced Safeway will close at 6 p.m. Thursday and reopen at — tentatively — 9 a.m. Sunday under the new name. The Haggen chain portrays itself as a “high-end grocery” that buys locally and follows ecologically balanced, sustainable practices but “still considers itself that funky little Bellingham store where it all started back in 1933.” Haggen is taking over 146 Safeway and Albertsons stores in the west, following a Federal Trade Commission ruling that a Safeway-Albertsons merger put too much market control in the hands of one company. The deal expands Haggen from 18 stores in the Northwest to 164, primarily on the West Coast, plus Arizona and Nevada. During the 63 hours the new Ashland Haggen is closed, crews will install new signs, replace the flooring and light fixtures, add more spotlights, paint the entire store, empty out and sanitize the deli, bakery, seafood and meat sections and retag and reprice 40,000 items and shelves, said Deborah Pleva, Haggen communications director. “The prices will be comparable to what shoppers were used to at Safeway,” said Pleva. “There will be more seafood variety and the produce will change significantly, with deliveries daily instead of several times a week.” The store will have organic and GMO-free options, but not for all items, she said. Produce will continue to be mainly from Charlie’s Produce, a Northwest distributor, with whom Haggen has partnered for many years, she said “But we love to source locally and our goal is to have more and more locally produced and grown," she added. Ashland Haggen representatives will have a meeting June 23 with local farmers to explore how to partner, she said. It will do the same with area nonprofits and plans to have “Community Days” in which Haggen will donate 1 percent from four consecutive Saturdays to four nonprofits. The number of Haggen's employees will quintuple to 10,000. Haggen offered all employees their present jobs and 99 percent of them accepted, Pleva said. In addition to Ashland, Haggen will operate four other stores in Southern Oregon — two in Grants Pass and two in Klamath Falls. The parent corporation of Haggen is Haggen Comvest Partners, a private investment firm with $1.8 billion in assets under management. It owns the majority of Haggen stock. The Comvest list of equity investments online includes many in the areas of health, security, jewelry, data and construction. Despite that corporate ownership, Pleva said, " We still want to be the local grocery store and know the communities around us." Haggen's “about” statement on its website stresses its environmental consciousness: "From sourcing and recycling eco-friendly materials to investing in energy-efficient lighting and equipment, the company is always looking for ways to reduce its environmental impact. But our most effective initiative by far is one that has been central to the business all along: buying local.” John Darling is an Ashland freelance writer. Reach him at [email protected]. By John Darling for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By John Darling for the Mail Tribune Posted May. 6, 2015 at 12:56 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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