Lucky Supermarket to Close April 28

Luck has run out for shoppers of the Lucky supermarket on De Anza Boulevard with news the store will close April 28.

Owned and managed by Save Mart Supermarkets a sign on the front door alerts shoppers of the closing date and that it is “no longer able to honor ads.”

Close-out discounts and empty shelves serve more as reinforcement for why some shoppers believe the store is closing.

“It’s tired, old,” says Joanne Facciolla who says she typically only uses the Lucky store as a “large 7-11.”

“I run in and get my three or four things and run out.”

Most of her full-basket grocery shopping days are over now that her kids are grown and moved out of the house. Still she tends to leave Cupertino for her main grocery shopping and goes to the Safeway in nearby Saratoga for most food needs, but can't offer a reason for traveling there.

"I have no idea why," she says.

She’s lived in Cupertino and shopped at Lucky for 30 years and remembers when it was Ralph’s, then Albertson’s, then Lucky.

She also remembers shopping at Lucky for Thanksgiving Day fixings only to find the store routinely run out of the traditional fare she sought. Even when she does run in for her few items she hardly ever sees anyone with full baskets.

Maybe people prefer shopping at larger, newer, more modern stores, she says.

But shopper Victor Rizzo will probably miss Lucky a little more since he lives right around the corner and shops there two or three times a week, he says. It’s a convenient place for him. The next nearest large grocery stores are two Safeways; one on Hollenbeck Avenue in Sunnyvale and the other on Bollinger Road in West San Jose.

The company issued a statement blaming the economy for the store’s closure.

“Save Mart Supermarkets closes a store only after exhausting every alternative to draw more customers in to shop. Unfortunately, the failing economy and the competition from other retailers have kept this store from performing at the level required to sustain it,” said Woody Hunter, vice president of coastal division operations in a statement.

No word from Cali Financial Management Company on what will replace Lucky, but an employee who declined to give her name or other information said they’ve received no word from other tenants about leaving.

Lucky remains as the only large non-ethnic grocery store in the city and there are some, such as Patricia Edwards, who bemoan the lack of an “American full service grocery store.”

Edwards added: "When I initially wrote to you I overlooked the only other American full-service grocery store remaining in Cupertino which is Whole Foods. Personally, I don't shop there due to the always crowded parking lot and I find their prices a bit steep."

Cupertino has several grocery store options that have an ethnic focus.

Facciolla says she shops at the ethnic stores, and loves them, but does find that she needs to go to Safeway, Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods for most of her shopping needs.

Facciolla asked one of the Lucky clerks what will happen to the employees of Lucky. He told her they were offered to transfer to their choices of three other stores, and he assured her no one is losing a job as a result of the closure.

Hunter’s statement said the store originally “opened as a Ralphs in 1973, a change of ownership in 1980 rebranded the store to Lucky and then another new owner changed the store to Albertsons. Save Mart purchased the store in 2007 and was pleased to bring the Lucky name back to the community. This store has faithfully served the Cupertino community for the past 39 years."

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