UPDATE—Grocery Outlet confirms Fort Bragg location will open – But when ? TBD – No opening date projected yet – FB is NOT among list of 28 lease cancellations.
Editor’s Note – Fort Bragg’s Grocery Outlet is still coming to Fort Bragg, although the company does not yet have a proposed opening date. We were able to confirm this on Thursday afternoon through the company. We were not able to get anyone to say this by name, but it comes from a top executive.
Grocery Outlet had a difficult 2024, but has announced a new strategy aimed at greater resilience. Details remain limited and the company has not released the list of 28 unopened stores who’s leases have recently been cancelled. What we know for now, that Fort Bragg is not on that list.
A reader informed us that the Grocery Outlet store in Chico today was a relocation from previous site – not a new store. We confirmed this with the company. While there had been speculation about a second Chico location, this is not it. Meanwhile the Fulton-West Sacramento store is a new location, as previously reported, but it’s opening has been rescheduled for August 28.
Here is the story from Wednesdays post —-
Grocery Outlet, which had been expanding rapidly over the past few years, has pulled back on opening 28 stores as it fully implements a late 2024 restructuring plan designed to keep the low-end cost grocery retailer profitable. The latest filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission said the company is terminating 28 leases for unopened stores in what they have defined as “suboptimal locations.” At least 15 of those had been set to open in 2025.
And there is more. The company also announced “the discontinued development of certain future store sites where we had incurred initial costs, but leases had not yet been signed. Mendocinocoast.news is trying to find out if the Fort Bragg store, now under construction, is a go or no go? If it does open – When will it open? So far, no answer. But check back here for an update. .
Any major changes – good, bad or impactful – in a company doing business on the Mendocino coast is news to us. Grocery Outlet cuts are no exception. , such as the Safeway Strike that never happened that we reported on. What happens to companies that are part of the Mendocino Coast gets coverage here.
In addition to stopping construction on an unknown number of stores and never opening the 28, the restructuring also includes “the cancellation of certain capital-intensive warehouse projects and (iii) a reduction in headcount in building a more scalable cost structure” (staff reductions apparently).
The decision to cut out 28 unopened stores was made after a new cost analysis of the markets those stores were to serve. And after a rough 2024 when the company ran into rising costs that conflicted with its low pricepoint committment.
“2024 was a year in which many critical operational elements were out of sync, which was further exacerbated by trying to do too much, too fast. But we’re working urgently to get back on track,” Grocery Outlet Chairman Eric Lindberg told United Grocery News in February.
These trucks were parked in what may be the Grocery Outlet parking lot someday.
The company’s financial statements said its profit margins are going down due to its seeking lower price points in a time of rising prices. That hit hard in the first quarter, from January-March for the company, the filings state. Grocery Outlet reacted by improving its inventory management capabilities, stockholders heard in an investors call and it was reported in SEC files.
That brought a bounce back in the quarter that ended in June:
“We opened 11 new stores and closed two stores, ending the quarter with 552 stores in 16 states. Starting in the second quarter of fiscal 2025, comparable stores sales include the addition of stores from the acquisition of United Grocery Outlet on April 1, 2024,” the SEC filing said. United Grocery Outlet was headquartered in Tennessee with 40 stores in that region. The company issued a press release in April 2024, saying it was announcing the “previously unannounced” acquisition, perhaps another indicator of a change in management direction.
These signs were put up to deal with that. Grocery Outlet agreed to requests by FB city and neighbors
and changed its delivery hours for when the new store opens.
More than half of all Grocery Stores are in California. The company is based in Emeryville.
There is a Grocery Outlet reopening in Chico on Thursday and another opening in Fulton-Sacramento on Aug. 28. There is no information so far on where the 28 stores that were all leased and ready to go are located. They won’t open now. Also, Grocery Outlet just terminated the lease on its Rancho Cordova store after 36 years.
Grocery Outlet emerged from early beginnings as an Army surplus store launched after World War II that became a hit and expanded. The company practices much of the fiscal conservative business practices, auction acquisitions and commitment to a “local” individual partner.
Grocery Outlet is different from chains like Albertson’s ( The company that owns Safeway) in that it shares ownership with an individual operator. A partner was sought locally on the Coast, but the company settled on a man from the Bay Area whose father-in-law is currently an independent operator for the Grocery Outlet chain.
Mendocinocoast. news staff have met the new owner-operators but they have not been formally announced as new owners by the company. If Fort Bragg’s store survives the company’s new effort to cut “suboptimal” locations that it once had approved, that information will be released in time; we aren’t here to steal their thunder.
and was then hauled away.
Examples of their fiscal conservatism is that the company prepares fully for the launch of a store by meeting all challenges ahead of time. For example, the company did more environmental work than was needed for the proposed location at the south end of Franklin Street in Fort Bragg. They didn’t have to do that. And GO was not actually “stopped” by opponents who objected or even filed suit.. They choose to do their business in a conservative way that allows the co-owner partner to have a clean slate when the store opens. Many chains just plow forward despite lawsuits and even local government challenges.
We plan to keep track of other publicly traded companies with a Mendocino Coast impact. If you have any to suggest, please contact us at frankhartzell@gmail.com
As the man who called me wanting more insight about the company said, Grocery Outlet is an interesting company to read on how they do their business. Having read thousands of SEC filings, We can say that GO spends less time on spin and more on matter-of-factly explaining what is going on. We can’t make head nor tail of the flurry of recent stock transaction reports as the caller had hoped, but we found their filings interesting enough to share. For example, one can read much about how the independent operator commitment works from the SEC filings and the costs and benefits to both.
Read about how Grocery Outlet reports its buiness to the SEC
Grocery Outlet’s SEC filings also include two interesting lawsuits, brought by stock buyers in one case and between former top executives and a member of the board of directors in the other. These were reported by Grocery Outlet to the SEC. While all retailers face lawsuits from customers or suppliers, these were the only ones in 2025 that merited mention in the quarterly report GO filed with the SEC
“Except as disclosed below, management believes that we do not have any pending legal proceedings that, separately or in the aggregate, would have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition or cash flows.”
•On January 30, 2025, a federal securities class action lawsuit, captioned Liberato v. Grocery Outlet Holding Corp., et al., Case No. 25-cv-00957, was filed in the United States District Court in the Northern District of California against Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. and certain of its former officers purportedly on behalf of purchasers of our common stock between November 7, 2023 and May 7, 2024 (the “Liberato Lawsuit”).
•On March 28, 2025, a second and related federal securities class action lawsuit, captioned Cavanaugh v. Grocery Outlet Holding Corp., et al., Case No. 25-cv-2886, was filed in the United States District Court in the Northern District of California against the same defendants on behalf of purchasers of our common stock between August 8, 2023 and October 29, 2024 (the “Cavanaugh Lawsuit,” and together with the Liberato Lawsuit, the “Class Action Lawsuits”). The Class Action Lawsuits allege that the defendants violated federal securities laws by making materially false and misleading statements and/or failing to disclose material adverse facts regarding our transition to new and upgraded internal systems. The Class Action Lawsuits seek remedies under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), including an undisclosed amount of monetary damages, interest, fees and other costs.
•On March 31, 2025, the plaintiff who filed the Cavanaugh Lawsuit filed a motion to consolidate both actions and to be appointed as lead plaintiff.
•On June 3, 2025, the Class Action Lawsuits were consolidated in the United States District Court in the Northern District of California (the “Consolidated Class Action Lawsuit”). The lead plaintiff’s amended complaint in the Consolidated Class Action Lawsuit is due August 19, 2025, and the Company’s motion to dismiss is due October 21, 2025.
•On April 28, 2025, a federal stockholder derivative lawsuit, captioned Conners v. Sheedy, et al., Case No. 25-cv-03697, was filed in the United States District Court in the Northern District of California against certain of the Company’s directors and two of its former officers purportedly on behalf of the Company.
On May 2, 2025, a second federal stockholder derivative lawsuit, captioned Jackson v. Lindberg, et. al., Case No. 25-cv-03843, was filed in the United States District Court in the Northern District of California against certain of the Company’s directors and two of its former officers purportedly on behalf of the Company. These stockholder derivative lawsuits are collectively referred to as the “Derivative Lawsuits.” The Derivative Lawsuits allege claims for breach of fiduciary duty, unjust enrichment, abuse of control, gross mismanagement, waste of corporate assets and for violations of Sections 10(b), 14(a), and 20(a) of the Exchange Act, based on similar allegations to those at issue in the Class Action Lawsuits. The Derivative Lawsuits seek, among other relief, undisclosed damages, restitution, fees and other costs, and the institution of corporate governance reforms.
On July 14, 2025, the parties in the Derivative Lawsuits stipulated to consolidate the Derivative Lawsuits in the United States District Court in the Northern District of California and stay the consolidated Derivative Lawsuits pending resolution of the Company’s motion to dismiss in the Consolidated Class Action Lawsuit discussed above. On July 29, 2025, the court granted the parties’ stipulation, consolidating the Derivatives Lawsuits and staying the consolidated derivative action.
We are interested in whether the store will open here and if this is the last round of cuts of proposed locations. Stay tuned
