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Stater Bros. Markets will soon plant its flag in Ventura County.
The supermarket chain is scheduled to open a store in Simi Valley next month, said Pete Van Helden, the company’s president and chief executive officer.
An opening date hasn’t been set for the store, a 48,000-square-foot structure that was formerly occupied by Haggen, the Washington-based grocery chain that closed all 67 of its California stores after filing bankruptcy last September.
The store, at 660 Los Angeles Ave., will employ more than 140 people. It will be Stater Bros.’ first location in Ventura County and will be about 100 miles from the company’s San Bernardino headquarters.
Stater Bros. doesn’t own the building, which is near the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. The company bought the lease from Haggen at auction last January for an undisclosed sum.
“In effect, they turned the lease over to us,” Van Helden said. “It has about 30 years left on it, plus an option. We’ve spent a lot of time getting it ready.”
Stater Bros. will have some tough competition after it opens. Albertsons, Vons, Target and Aldi, all direct competitors, operate stores within a two-mile radius of Stater Bros.’ future location, but Van Helden said he’s not concerned.
“We offer high quality and low prices, which is a difficult combination to maintain,” he said. “I don’t see anyone in that market who’s doing that.
The Simi Valley store will have a different interior decor than other Stater Bros.’ locations.
“It’s hard to describe what it’s going to look like,” Van Helden said. “It will have more earth tones than people are used to seeing. We’re going to try something different.”
Stater Bros. also plans to donate $10,000 to local charities on the day the store opens, according to Van Helden.
Traditionally, Stater Bros. has been very careful about picking store sites, said Jay Prag, professor of economics and finance at the Drucker School of Management at Claremont Graduate University.
“They take their time,” said Prag, who studies the local grocery industry. “They’re privately owned, so they aren’t being pressured by stockholders. I think this move is another sign the market is recovering.”
Stater Bros. is the largest privately owned supermarket chain based in Southern California and the largest private employer in the Inland Empire, with 168 store and an estimated 18,000 employees, according to a company statement.
