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Come Wednesday, your neighborhood Lucky store will have turned into an Albertson's supermarket virtually overnight.
In a move that will affect hundreds of stores, Boise, Idaho-based Albertson's Inc. has decided to convert the Lucky stores it purchased in a $12 billion acquisition into stores bearing its name.
San Francisco has just two Lucky stores, which will both be converted into Albertson's, but the company said it plans to expand in The City and is considering building on new sites.
"We had a very strong brand recognition throughout California, and we had two strong companies that were well respected by the customer, but the bottom line is we had to go with one name," said Don Keprta, president of Albertson's Northern California region, who was the former general manager of the Lucky division.
Albertson's acquisition of Salt Lake City-based American Stores Co., Lucky's parent company, created the country's second largest grocery company with more than 2,400 stores nationwide under various names in different markets. The merger was announced in August 1998 and approved this June.
While a handful of Lucky stores, including one in San Leand<*col. 1 of GROCERY ()*> ro, will be converted into Albertson's on Tuesday, the remaining stores will close Tuesday at 8 p.m. and reopen with the Albertson's name Wednesday morning.
In Northern California, that change will affect 172 former Lucky stores. The combined chain has 470 stores in California and Nevada.
In most cases, the conversion will amount to a temporary banner replacing the Lucky sign until a permanent sign can be installed, a process that may take several months. For an unspecified period of time, the merged stores will carry both private label brands.
Keprta didn't think customers would have a hard time making the transition to the Albertson's name even though Lucky's 172 stores compares with just 23...