As hundreds of shoppers emptied shelves at the about-to-close Visalia Vons store Wednesday, employee Chris Forsyth took time out to spend $3 on the Lotto.
"I'm playing my kids' birthdays," he said. "Maybe I'll get lucky."
Luck would be welcomed by the store's 45 employees. The store at 4207 W. Noble Ave. closes for good Saturday, and workers say they've not yet learned whether they'll be transferred to other stores or whether they'll keep the retirement and health care benefits into which they've paid.
Forsyth — like the rest of the store's employees — is barred by company policy from speaking to the media about the closure. But other workers, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said they are waiting for word from Vons headquarters in Arcadia and their union.
Staff members fear that speaking out will cause them to be terminated and cost them retirement and health benefits, which they say they've paid into through September.
Many workers have been employees for more than 20 years. But for some, the writing is on the wall.
"The [Employment Development Department] has already been in here to talk to us, so I think that says something," said one worker who has been with the store more than a decade. "But they're not really telling us our status."
Another worker voiced the same sentiment.
"I just wish they would tell us what is going on," the worker said.
Jacques Loveall, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers 8-Golden State, said the union has been meeting with Vons officials since being notified of the closure.
"[The union] has also been in contact with other employers in Tulare County and will continue to encourage the employment of this highly-skilled work force," he said.
Vons spokesman Daymond Rice did not return several calls for comment Wednesday. Rice said in an earlier interview that the store is being closed because of poor sales.
As the company prepared to shutter the supermarket, hundreds of shoppers waited hours to get in and out of the store Wednesday, snapping up items at 50 percent off. Jennifer Salvatierra made two trips to the store Wednesday, each lasting about three hours.
"This second trip is my baby-sitter's shopping list," Salvatierra said as she loaded dozens of bags into the back of her SUV. "We bought $320 worth of food and paid $149."
Richard Brown, a regular Vons customer, waited 30 minutes to get into the store and another 90 to check out.
"I've always liked Vons," he said. "They've always had a good selection."
Vons is a Southern California subsidiary of the Pleasanton-based Safeway Company, the third-largest grocery store chain in the U.S. Safeway operates 1,743 stores across the United States and, according to its annual report, posted $888 million in gross profit last year.
Safeway and its subsidiaries are facing increased competition from warehouse stores and other large chains, its annual report said.
Still in the neighborhood
The departure leaves Visalia with more than a half-dozen grocery stores, including locally owned R&N, Best Buy and Young's Market, four Save Mart locations and warehouse stores Food Maxx, FoodsCo, WinCo, Food 4 Less and Grocery Outlet.
Vons owns the Visalia store space and is in the process of selling it.
The entire shopping center in the 4200 block of West Noble Avenue also is on the market. The center is owned by Sacramento-based Kinco Realty and was listed about a year ago, Kinco agent John Welter said.
The Visalia store is the latest in a series of Valley Vons stores to close. Fresno and Clovis stores closed in 2006 and two other Fresno stores closed in 2004. Low sales performance was cited as the reason for those closures as well.
