Over the next 45 days, Homeland Acquisition Corporation Inc. will close some stores in Edmond, Norman and Lawton.
Meanwhile, other store locations in Clinton, Elk City and Woodward will be consolidated and reopened in July.
Over the last year, and especially in recent months, the company has been facing financial pressure.
"It was pretty obvious if you're a shopper of ours, you could see there are holes on the shelves and the store conditions just kind of weren't where our shoppers deserve," said Christen King, the corporation's vice president of communications.
The announcement of consolidations and closures is part of the chain's plan to reinvest in stores to create a sustainable future as an independent grocery. The company hired Frank Archer as CEO, who specializes in stabilizing grocery businesses, last year.
Part of this plan focuses on the basics, investing in prices and upgrades to stores' perishable program such as bakery and deli.
Last year, the parent company closed four stores, but King said that was done before Archer was hired and had a plan in place.
There were a number of factors, including past decisions, she said that led to financial woes. King said some stores were operating at a loss, but the corporation kept them open because of the communities they served and the employee owners.
Recent events have not helped, she said. For instance, at certain stores, anywhere from 10 - 20% of sales are done using the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and those benefits were halted last year during the federal government shutdown.
"I will say there were some outside factors. Certainly, the volatility in the grocery business with tariffs and the kind of the back and forth there, but especially the SNAP issues," King said. "But really and truly, it was more just a balance of the perfect storm where it made the pressure a little more than we want to be facing."
Making the decision was difficult and took careful consideration from company officials.
The stores chosen to close were underperforming. For consolidation, leaders wanted to maintain a presence in certain markets.
"It came down to what's sustainable and we couldn't keep the stores that were operating at a loss open any longer and it not affect the rest of the business, because we have so many locations in Oklahoma," King said. "Some of those locations are the only grocery store in rural areas."
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