Lucky’s files first layoff notice in Florida; closures could cut thousands of jobs nationwide
Editor’s note: This is a developing story that will be updated.
NIWOT — Lucky’s Market has been mum this week on just how many jobs will be lost as a result of the upcoming closures of dozens of stores around the country. But there is reason to believe that several thousand workers could be left looking for work.
And the company could be closing one more store than initially anticipated.
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Lucky’s employs roughly 4,000 people across its network of grocery stores and its corporate headquarters, according to jobs figures provided to BizWest in May 2019. That figure matches one provided earlier this week by a Florida Lucky’s regional store director to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel newspaper, which also reported that the firm has 2,500 employees in Florida. Of those 4,000 nationwide employees, 232 worked in the Niwot headquarters as of May, and 450 people worked at four stores in Boulder, Fort Collins and Longmont.
At least 32 of Lucky’s 39 locations will close in the next several weeks, which represents about 80 percent of store locations. If a corresponding 80 percent of company jobs are eliminated, the result would be a loss of 3,200 jobs around the country.
Stores in south Boulder, Longmont and Wheat Ridge are slated to close, while stores in north Boulder and Fort Collins will remain open.
Lucky’s closures were anticipated to occur Feb. 12, with seven stores to remain open nationwide, including one in Melbourne, Florida.
However, Lucky’s human-resources managers filed a notice with Florida’s state government Thursday indicating that 96 positions, including about 50 full-time jobs, will be lost as a result of the closure of the Melbourne store. Two other similar notices were filed later in the day for the St. Petersburg and Gainesville stores. That notice referenced the elimination of 89 and 90 jobs respectively.
“We anticipate that operations will cease no sooner than March 24, 2020 and no later than April 7, 2020,” the WARN letter stated.
A company representative did not respond to a request by BizWest to clarify the discrepancy. Assuming that Lucky’s employs roughly 96 workers at each store, the result of 32 locations closing would result in the reduction of more than 3,000 jobs.That estimate does not include jobs that will be lost at the company’s local headquarters. In an email Thursday, Lucky’s confirmed that there will be a “reduction in staff at the company’s support office in Niwot.”
In the Florida WARN filing, Lucky’s officials said the closure of the Melbourne store “is expected to be permanent” and that “all employees at the facility will lose their employment” as a result.
The WARN Act requires companies with more than 100 employees to file advance notices with their state labor departments when laying off more than half of their workforces at a single site. BizWest has so far identified only Lucky’s WARN filings in Florida, but similar notices in other states could be filed soon.
“We regret the economic circumstances that have required us to make this painful decision,” the Lucky’s letter to Florida’s labor department said. “We will work with you, the employees and the appropriate government agencies to minimize the economic disruption.”
Neil Stern, a retail industry analyst and senior partner at Chicago-based consulting firm McMillanDoolittle LLP, told BizWest that grocery stores typically employ between 50 and 75 full and part-time workers. Market research firm Statista pegs the average grocery store employee count at 72. Even if Lucky’s were on the most conservative end of Stern’s estimate, the result of 32 stores cutting 50 employees each is the loss of 1,600 positions.
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