Haggen Announces Steps to Streamline and Improve Operations

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact

Deborah Pleva

deb@weinsteinpr.com

(503) 908-4250

Haggen Announces Steps to Streamline and Improve Operations

Bellingham, Wash. (August 14, 2015) – Haggen, the West Coast regional grocer, today announced that in order to continue to improve its business and strengthen its competitive position, it has decided to close or sell a number of locations in California, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. Most of the stores being closed or sold were acquired as part of the transaction in which Albertsons LLC and Safeway divested 146 stores. Additional stores will be sold or closed in the future as part of Haggen’s right-sizing strategy. The company has not determined how many jobs will be affected as a result of the closures and sales.

“Haggen’s goal going forward is to ensure a stable, healthy company that will benefit our customers, associates, vendors, creditors, stakeholders as well as the communities we serve,” said Haggen CEO Pacific Southwest, Bill Shaner. “By making the tough choice to close and sell some stores, we will be able to invest in stores that have the potential to thrive under the Haggen banner.”

Through the acquisition, Haggen expanded from 18 stores with 16 pharmacies and 2,000 employees in the Pacific Northwest to 164 stores and 106 pharmacies employing more than 10,000 people in Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada and Arizona. Haggen’s original stores continue to perform well. 

John Clougher, Haggen CEO Pacific Northwest, added, “Though Haggen has grown substantially, we remain committed to our core values and to support regional farms, ranches and food producers and strengthen the communities around our stores.”

Clougher and Shaner continued:

“We’re grateful to have an outstanding team along with the support of our vendor partners, financial backers and friends in the community as we take our next steps forward. Looking ahead, we will work hard every single day to earn the trust and business of our guests. We will continue to support community events and donate to schools. We will offer our customers the freshest and most local products we can find and the genuine service they deserve. And we will engage in lively discussions about how we can improve. We will remain actively involved in making our communities even better, and we will stay committed to the values that have always guided Haggen.”

Click here for the list of stores  slated for closure.

About Haggen

Founded in 1933 in Bellingham, Washington, Haggen has built its business on providing guests the freshest and most local products with genuine service, while supporting the communities it serves. In the first half of 2015, Haggen made an acquisition expanding from a Pacific Northwest company with locations in Oregon and Washington to a regional grocery chain with locations in Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada and Arizona. Throughout its eight decades in business, the company has supported regional farms, ranches, fisheries and other businesses, creating a lasting and sustainable local food economy. The company remains focused on its core values as it expands. For more information about what’s happening at Haggen, visit haggen.com, and get social with Haggen Northwest Fresh at Facebook, Twitter and Instagram; and Haggen Southwest at Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

###

DEBORAH T. PLEVA

Associate, Weinstein PR

503-908-4250

weinsteinpr.com

Member

PR Boutiques International

LA Raiders, Chargers a Certainty, Lawyer Says

A former football executive spearheading the Carson stadium projects said he is “absolutely certain” the teams will play in LA by 2019.

The former football executive spearheading efforts by the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders to jointly build a stadium in Carson said today he is “absolutely certain” the teams will be based in the Southland by 2019.

Carmen Policy, a lawyer who was president and CEO of the San Francisco 49ers in the 1980s and 90s, told reporters outside a meeting of National Football League team owners in Chicago that the Carson project would be “shovel ready” as soon as approval is given for the teams to move from their respective cities.

According to a Twitter post from the NFL network, Policy said, “We are absolutely certain that we will be in the stadium and playing football for the 2019 season.”

He said 2018 was too early to expect the proposed Carson stadium to be ready.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which is covering the meetings because that city’s Rams are also eyeing a move to the lucrative Los Angeles market, reported that Chargers Chairman Dean Spanos and Raiders owner Mark Davis also made brief remarks to their colleagues.

Rams owner Stan Kroenke was also scheduled to discuss his planned stadium project at the former Hollywood Park racetrack in Inglewood.

Returning a team to Los Angeles is a major priority for the NFL. The Los Angeles area has not had an NFL team since 1995, when the Rams moved to St. Louis and the Raiders returned to Oakland.

The office of San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, who is trying to keep the Chargers from moving, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On Monday, city and county of San Diego stadium negotiators met with a small group of team owners to discuss a proposal to replace Qualcomm Stadium in Mission Valley. They unveiled renderings of a design concept by the firm Populous and a proposed financing package, under which the city and county would pay about one-third of the total construction cost.

The financing proposal calls for the Chargers to contribute $362.5 million and the NFL $200 million, and for $187.5 million in personal seat licenses to be sold, with the county and city making a combined $350 million contribution. The proposal does not rely on income from other development on the site, like shops and office buildings.

Also made public on Monday was a 6,000-page environmental impact report, which is now available for public comment. Chargers officials have objected to the study’s expedited time line.

Team special counsel Mark Fabiani said that never in California’s history had a controversial billion-dollar project relied on environmental review documents prepared in just three weeks. Environmental studies usually take 12-18 months.

City officials maintain that the EIR will hold up to scrutiny because the project is merely replacing one stadium with a similar and smaller, facility, so the impacts are already largely known.

The efforts to keep the Chargers in San Diego come years after the local NFL franchise began asking for a replacement for aging Qualcomm Stadium, where, long before it acquired its current name, the first game was played in August 1967.

City News Service

This Blew My Mind

A young man went to seek an important position at a large printing company. He passed the initial interview and was going to meet the director for the final interview. The director saw his resume, it was excellent. And asked, '
- Have you received a scholarship for school?' The boy replied, " No '.
-' It was your father who paid for your studies? '
-' Yes.'- He replied.
-' Where does your father work? '
-' My father is a Blacksmith'
The Director asked the young man to show him his hands.
The young man showed a pair of hands soft and perfect.
-' Have you ever helped your parents at their job? '
-' Never, my parents always wanted me to study and read more books. Besides, he can do the job better than me.
The director said:
-' I have got a request: When you go home today, go and wash the hands of your father and then come see me tomorrow morning.'

The young man felt his chance to get the job was high.
When he returned to his house he asked his father if he would allow him to wash their hands.
His father felt strange, happy, but with mixed feelings and showed their hands to his son. The young man washed his hands, little by little. It was the first time that he noticed his father's hands were wrinkled and they had so many scars. Some bruises were so painful that his skin shuddered when he touched them.
This was the first time that the young man recognized what it meant for this pair of hands to work every day to be able to pay for his study. The bruises on the hands were the price that he payed for their education, his school activities and his future.
After cleaning his father's hands the young man stood in silence and began to tidy and clean up the workshop. That night, father and son talked for a long time.

The next morning, the young man went to the office of the director.
The Director noticed the tears in the eyes of the young man when He asked him: -' Can you tell me what you did and what you learned yesterday at your house?'
The boy replied: -' I washed my father's hands and when I finished I stayed and cleaned his workshop '
-' Now I know what it is to appreciate and recognize that without my parents , I would not be who I am today . By helping my father I now realize how difficult and hard it is to do something on my own. I have come to appreciate the importance and the value in helping the family.

The director said, "This is what I look for in my people. I want to hire someone who can appreciate the help of others , a person who knows the hardship of others to do things, and a person who does not put money as his only goal in life". ' You are hired '.

A child that has been coddled, Protected and usually given him what he wants, develops a mentality of " I have the right ' and will always put himself first, ignoring the efforts of their parents. If we are this type of protective parent are we really showing love or are we destroying our children?
You can give your child a big house , good food , computer classes , watch on a big screen TV . But when you're washing the floor or painting a wall , please let him experience that too.
After eating have them wash the dishes with their brothers and sisters. It is not because you have no money to hire someone to do this it's because you want to love them the right way . No matter how rich you are, you want them to understand. One day your hair will have gray hair, like the father of this young man.
The most important thing is that your child learns to appreciate the effort and to experience the difficulties and learn the ability to work with others to get things done.

Gas Prices Dip, But Are You Being Gouged Diamond Bar?

The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in Los Angeles County Friday recorded its largest daily decrease since Oct. 27, 2012, dropping 4.1 cents to $3.875.

The average price has dropped 22 consecutive days, decreasing 42.7 cents, including 3.7 cents on Thursday, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service.

The decreases follow a seven-day stretch of increases totaling 75.7 cents that pushed the average price to its highest amount since May 4, 2014.

The average price is 22 cents less than one week ago and 5.3 cents lower than one year ago but 32.6 cents more than one month ago.

“Local wholesale prices have plunged by nearly $1.50 since July 9, but so far average retail prices have only dropped by about 40 cents, leaving a lot of room for them to drop further and faster,” said Jeffrey Spring, the Automobile Club of Southern California’s communications manager.

This week, the Santa Monica-based Consumer Watchdog accused the oil refineries of gouging California drivers while calling for new legislation to reign them in.

“We know the California experience in gasoline prices is unprecedented,” Jamie Court, president of Santa Monica-based Consumer Watchdog told the Los Angeles Times. “There has never been this type of gouging.”

Court went on to cite refineries’ high profits in the state at a time of falling oil prices as proof of gouging.

Consumer Watchdog is asking for laws that would require oil companies to disclose profits on gas refined locally, to be transparent about refinery maintenance and outages, and to keep a reserve to avoid price spikes. The group also wants to see higher penalties for gouging.

IRS to Taxpayers: We Don't Send Cops to Homes Don't be fooled by people calling to have you arrested immediately because you owe taxes; it does not work that way.

Following the emergence of new variations of widespread tax scams, the Internal Revenue Service Friday issued another warning to taxpayers to remain on high alert and protect themselves against the ever-evolving array of deceitful tactics scammers use to trick people.

These schemes – which can occur over the phone, in e-mails or through letters with authentic looking letterheads – try to trick taxpayers into providing personal financial information or scare them into making false tax payments that end up with the criminal.

It is important to remember the official IRS website is IRS.gov.

Taxpayers are urged not to be confused or misled by sites claiming to be the IRS but ending in .com, .net, .org or other designations instead of .gov.

Taxpayers should never provide personal information, financial or otherwise, to suspicious websites or strangers calling out of the blue.

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) has received reports of roughly 600,000 contacts since October 2013. TIGTA is also aware of more than 4,000 victims who have collectively reported over $20 million in financial losses as a result of tax scams.

“We continue to see these aggressive tax scams across the country,” IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said.

“Scam artists specialize in being deceptive and fooling people. The IRS urges taxpayers to be extra cautious and think twice before answering suspicious phone calls, emails or letters.”

Below are five things scammers often do that the real IRS would never do:

The IRS will never:

· Angrily demand immediate payment over the phone, nor will the agency call about taxes owed without first having mailed you a bill.

· Threaten to bring in local police or other law-enforcement groups to have you arrested for not paying.

· Demand that you pay taxes without giving you the opportunity to question or appeal the amount they say you owe.

· Require you to use a specific payment method for your taxes, such as a prepaid debit card.

· Ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone.

Here’s what you should do if you think you’re the target of an IRS impersonation scam:

· If you actually do owe taxes, call the IRS at 1-800-829-1040. IRS workers can help you with a payment issue.

· If you know you don’t owe taxes or do not immediately believe that you do, you can report the incident to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) at1-800-366-4484.

· If you’ve been targeted by any scam, be sure to contact the Federal Trade Commission and use their FTC Compliant Assistant at FTC.gov. Please add “IRS Telephone Scam” to the comments of your complaint.

For more information on reporting tax scams, go to IRS.gov and type “scam” in the search box.