Grocery Outlet, a California-based chain with 16 locations in Idaho, has announced it will be closing some stores nationwide.\n<\/p>\n
At a Glance:<\/p>\n
Grocery Outlet has 16 locations in Idaho, including seven in Treasure Valley and five in northern Idaho.
\nTwo Idaho stores, located in Pocatello and Idaho Falls, are scheduled to close by March 21, 2026.
\nGrocery Outlet announced 36 store closures nationwide after expanding too quickly, including closures in six states.<\/p>\n
The California-based retailer said it plans to close 36 locations across the United States after expanding too quickly in recent years, company leaders said during a March 4 earnings call.\n<\/p>\n
Grocery Outlet operates more than 500 stores across 16 states, concentrated heavily on the West Coast. Washington has the second highest number of Grocery Outlet locations as a state, following California, including one that opened just three months ago in Belfair.\n<\/p>\n
USA TODAY confirmed with Gordon Brothers, which assisted with Big Lots bankruptcy in 2025, that Grocery Outlet is closing stores in six states \u2014 California, Idaho, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvania.\n<\/p>\n
Why is Grocery Outlet closing stores?<\/p>\n
Grocery Outlet executives said during a March 4 earnings call that the company plans to close 36 locations after expanding too quickly in recent years.<\/p>\n
During the call, Grocery Outlet President and CEO Jason Potter, who joined the company just over a year ago, said the retailer\u2019s fourth quarter results were \u201cunacceptable,\u201d and there is \u201cmore work to do than we expected.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
In 2025, the grocery retailer opened 42 new stores and closed five. By the end of the year, the company had 570 stores across 16 states, per the call.\n<\/p>\n
According to Potter, the bargain grocery store analyzed its portfolio and ultimately decided to close 36 locations, 24 of which are in the eastern United States and represent about 30% of the region\u2019s stores.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not fully exiting any state, and we believe we have a meaningful opportunity to grow in the east over the long term,\u201d Potter said. \u201cHowever, it\u2019s clear now that we expanded too quickly, and these closures are a direct correction.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Potter added that the grocery retailer\u2019s remaining 51 stores in the eastern U.S. have been profitable and ended the fourth quarter with a 3.3% increase in sales. The closures, Potter said, will improve the company\u2019s adjusted earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation to about $12 million.<\/p>\n
Where are the Grocery Outlet stores in Idaho?<\/p>\n
There are around 16 Grocery Outlets in Idaho, including seven locations in the Treasure Valley area and five in northern Idaho. Two locations are located in the southeast part of the state. The stores in Pocatello and Idaho Falls are slated for closure by March 21, 2026.\n<\/p>\n
Grocery Outlet is still expanding, refreshing and remodeling stores, CEO says\n<\/p>\n
Potter said that over the past six months, the company was cautiously confident it was headed in the right direction because it experienced three consecutive months of sales improvement. New stores that opened in 2025 were also performing well, he added.\n<\/p>\n
However, in late September, sales began to decline, partially due to marketing issues and Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) distributions that \u201cnegatively impacted our SNAP business and affordability,\u201d according to Potter.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cPressure on our core customer increased more than we\u2019d expected,\u201d Potter added, noting that \u201cbasket pressure intensified\u201d for the company\u2019s core customers, leading to a dip in sales that continued into January 2026.\n<\/p>\n
The company began to speed up its store refresh program, Potter said, referring to Grocery Outlet\u2019s attempts at remodeling existing stores. The retailer has focused on remodeling since at least 2020, per a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Potter said the remodel program\u2019s goal is to \u201csharpen\u201d customers\u2019 in-store experience.\n<\/p>\n
What\u2019s next for Grocery Outlet?<\/p>\n
Moving forward, Potter said the company\u2019s focus will be redirected to its \u201cmodel refresh rollout of 150 stores this year.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Grocery Outlet will also open another 30 to 33 new stores in 2026 under a more \u201cdisciplined approach\u201d or \u201cclustered model,\u201d to improve supply chain efficiency, according to Potter.\n<\/p>\n
Additionally, the company will invest in promotions for fresh products to get customers excited, Potter said. He anticipates the business will invest roughly $20 million into promotions.\n<\/p>\n
Chief Financial Officer Christopher Miller also spoke on the call and said the 36 planned store closures will \u201cmoderate revenue growth\u201d and ultimately result in a 2% increase for the company\u2019s gross revenue.\n<\/p>\n
This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: \u201cGrocery Outlet is announcing store closures. How many are in WA?\u201d Reporting by Saleen Martin, USA TODAY. David Nelson of the Kitsap Sun and IBR staff contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Grocery Outlet, a California-based chain with 16 locations in Idaho, has announced it will be closing some stores nationwide. At a Glance: Grocery Outlet has 16 locations in Idaho, including seven in Treasure Valley and five in northern Idaho. Two Idaho stores, located in Pocatello and Idaho Falls, are scheduled to close by March 21,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33703,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[9992,13320,5202,5200,27055,5198,5201,5199,13321,11101,6182,28794],"class_list":["post-33702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-idaho","tag-9992","tag-grocery-outlet","tag-idaho","tag-idaho-dining","tag-idaho-falls","tag-idaho-food","tag-idaho-grocery-stores","tag-idaho-restaurants","tag-jason-potter","tag-pocatello","tag-store-closures","tag-treasure-valley"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dc\/117342398271918716","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}