Councilman: Vons closing 3 LV stores

Jennifer Shubinski

Thursday, Aug. 12, 2004 | 11 a.m.

Las Vegas Councilman Lawrence Weekly said this morning that supermarket giant Vons plans to close three stores in the area, including one in a redevelopment zone that will leave residents without a nearby grocery store.

Weekly said Vons officials told him this week they're in the process of closing sites at Desert Inn Road and Eastern Avenue, another on South Rainbow Boulevard and one at 1061 Owens Ave. and H Street in West Las Vegas.

"The residents are concerned; it's an inconvenience," Weekly said.

Officials with Pleasanton, Calif.-based Safeway, which owns Vons grocery stores, could not be reached for comment. However, a spokeswoman for Vons told the Bakersfield Californian newspaper that the company was closing three stores in Las Vegas as well as three in California.

A sign on the door of the store at Owens and H said the store would close Sunday. It referred customers to the Vons store at 3258 Las Vegas Blvd. in North Las Vegas.

The concern that Weekly and other community activists have is the negative perception that will remain after Vons closes the store on Sunday.

The Vons store at Owens and H opened almost 10 years ago and was the first sign of redevelopment progress in the area.

John Edmond, owner of Edmond Town Center, the shopping center that houses the Vons grocery store, said it could affect plans for future retail development and he worries that other tenants will pull out.

Weekly said Vons officials told him this week that they were closing the stores, but that all employees will be transferred to other stores. Weekly said he was told that the store at Owens and H is being closed because it is underperforming.

The Las Vegas Office of Business Development is working with Edmond to get a new grocery tenant at the shopping center.