Albertsons on its last legs?

It's never a good sign to have a single check stand open in the middle of the day - as was the case at the Marina del Rey location a couple of weeks back (it's the one next to the perpetually mobbed Costco). The chain is owned by Supervalu, which could be ripe for acquisition or breakup, according to Wall Street chatter. From Reuters:

The company has laid off workers, closed stores and sold assets in a continuing effort to lower debt from its $12.4 billion acquisition of more than 1,100 Albertsons stores in 2006. "There are some food retailers with the competitive position, scale, capital structure and resulting liquidity to create shareholder value over time by increasing EBITDA," said an industry banker who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak with the media. "There are some who have not been able to do that, particularly with a challenging credit market. Supervalu clearly falls in the later camp," the banker said.

Albertsons must be having a tough time in the L.A. area because there's so much competition - from the traditional chains (Ralphs, Vons), from the warehouse stores (Costco), from the mass merchants (Wal-Mart, Target), from the smaller chains (Whole Foods, Bristol Farm, Trader Joe's), and from the growing number of independents. Supervalu trades at significantly lower earnings than the industry as a group, and its stock has been falling. Takeover rumors often don't amount to anything (short-sellers may keep them alive in the hopes that the stock will keep dropping), but empty stores have nothing to do with short selling.