Supervalu to cut 2,500 Albertson's jobs

Twin Cities-based Supervalu plans to cut up to 2,500 western U.S. workers in its Albertson's subsidiary.

The cuts will fall in the Albertson's southern California Division, which operates about 250 grocery stores in southern California and southern Nevada.

Supervalu's company-wide revenue has declined for three straight years. Albertsons is the biggest retail chain in Supervalu's portfolio of grocery businesses.

Mike Siemienas, Supervalu spokesman, said the cuts are part of restructuring begun by the company about a year ago.

"This is just another step with the Albertsons southern California division, which has experienced a reduction in traffic and an overall decline in sales," Siemienas said. "We just needed to make the necessary adjustments to store-level operations."

At this point, the job cuts are confined to the Albertson's southern California division which employs about 19,000 people, Siemienas said.

"They've got a lot of stores in California. California hasn't been one of their better areas," said John Dean, a Twin Cities-based grocery store consultant. Deans says the job cuts are not especially surprising.