As the North Texas grocery store wars heat up, one chain announced it is closing five stores.
Albertsons is shutting the doors at stores in Carrollton, Garland, Richardson, Plano and Southlake.
The grocery chain's presence in North Texas has slowing been diminishing. After this latest round of closings, Albertsons will still operate 54 stores in Dallas-Fort Worth.
"DFW is one of the most competitive markets in the United States," Kroger spokesman Gary Huddleston said.
Kroger is announcing new openings, including an upscale, urban market near uptown Dallas.
"That's what I think is great about Kroger," said Huddleston. "We offer several different formats."
Smaller, bare-bones grocers such as Aldi are also faring well. Aldi now has 29 DFW stores, with more on the way.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
Debbie Thomas, of Garland, said she loves Aldi.
"It's good food, and it's not expensive," she said. "Ninety-nine cents for milk, 99 cents for eggs -- you can't beat that."
But a spokesperson for Albertsons said it wasn't able to compete with such prices at certain stores.
The stores that will close are:
- Carrollton: the Hebron and Old Denton location at 4025 Old Denton Road
- Garland: the Highway 78 and Crist location at 3046 Lavon Drive
- Richardon: the Plano and Beltline location at 111 North Plano Road
- Plano: the Park and Shiloh location at 3513 East Park Blvd.
- Southlake: the Southlake and Davis location at 2201 West Southlake Blvd.
"I am so sad," said Darla Purdom, of McKinney. "It's been around a long time. I've been employed by them. I just love Albertsons."
About 550 employees will be affected by the closings. Albertsons said it hopes to transfer as many of them as possible to other locations that are staying open.
