Albertson’s Sets Record For Openings

Albertson’s Inc. opened eight new stores on Wednesday, a single-day record for the nation’s fourth-largest supermarket chain.

An additional 15 stores are scheduled to open this month for a total of 58 new store openings for the fiscal year that ends Feb. 1, the company said in a statement issued from its Boise headquarters.

That will give Albertson’s 764 stores, up from 720 at the end of the last fiscal year. The company has closed 14 stores during the past year.

The stores opened Wednesday are in Reno, Nev.; Tumwater, Wash.; Oxnard, Calif.; Fort Collins, Colo.; Dallas; the Houston suburb of Katy, Texas; Tyler, Texas; and Clearwater, Fla.

Albertson’s also said on Wednesday that it has agreed to purchase one Southern California store from Salt Lake-based Smith’s Food & Drug Centers Inc. That store is expected to open as an Albertson’s store around the end of the fiscal year.