MIDDLESEX TWP., Pa. — Giant Company fulfillment centers in Chester and Lehigh counties are among five across Pennsylvania that will close, as the Cumberland County-based grocery store chain rethinks its home delivery model.
106 workers will be impacted by the closure of the facility at 216. E. Fairmont St. in Coopersburg, Lehigh County. A Giant grocery store that operates at the same address will not be affected, Ashley Flower, manager of public relations for the Giant Company, told 69 News via email. The fulfillment center is located within the same building but is not visible or accessible to customers.
Flower could not provide information about the number of people impacted by its closure of the fulfillment center in North Coventry Township, near Pottstown.
Giant is also shuttering e-commerce central fulfillment centers in Philadelphia; Lancaster; and Upper Moreland Township, Montgomery County.
Flower said it’s expected that the closures will be finalized by the end of April, as Giant transitions fully to store-based fulfillment and discontinues centralized fulfillment.
“We’ve learned over the past few years that there isn’t a one size fits all approach to our e-commerce business, particularly our fulfillment model. With customers expecting faster delivery, we need to ensure we are operating as efficiently as possible to meet their ever-changing needs,” Flower wrote in her email.
The change means customers who use Giant’s online grocery shopping service will have their orders shopped or “picked” by Giant Direct team members in their local store. Those orders will then be delivered by a third-party (Instacart or DoorDash) driver versus a Giant Direct driver, Flower said.
The total number of employees impacted by the five closures is not clear. WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) Act notices posted for the Philadelphia and Lancaster locations indicate 128 workers will be impacted by the closure of the former, and 76 employees will be affected by the shutdown of the latter.
The Pennsylvania Department of Labor has not yet received WARN notices for the facilities in Coopersburg, North Coventry, and Upper Moreland, a spokesperson told 69 News. Flower provided the number of workers at the Coopersburg location but did not give numbers for the other facilities.
A WARN notice is a 60-day written notice that employers must provide before a plant closing or mass layoff, in accordance with federal law.
“Our goal is to minimize any job loss, which is why we’re offering team members positions elsewhere in our organization,” Flower wrote in her email. “We’ve worked carefully to identify opportunities similar to their current role or new roles they are qualified for and interested in.”
Giant’s parent company, Ahold Delhaize USA, is also closing an e-commerce fulfillment center in Manassas, Va.
Ahold Delhaize, which also owns Food Lion, Hannaford and Stop & Shop, is the largest grocery retail group on the East Coast, and the fourth largest in the nation.
According to its website, Giant operates 165 grocery stores in Pennsylvania.