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TALLAHASSEE, FL – Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced his office has reached an agreement with Albertsons LLC over allegations several of the company’s stores refused to honor sales prices printed in the company’s weekly flyers. The agreement calls for $200,000 for consumer restitution, fees and costs and the Attorney General will hold the entire amount available for potential consumer restitution at a maximum of $20 per household with proof of purchase.

Last summer, Albertsons began closing several of its stores, but shoppers complained the closing stores would not honor the sales in the advertising flyers and the flyers had no mention of this exemption. After receiving complaints, the Attorney General’s Economic Crimes Division began investigating and ultimately obtained the agreement with the supermarket chain over the alleged conduct at more than 20 Florida stores. A copy of one of the flyers is available online at: http://myfloridalegal.com/webfiles.nsf/WF/MRAY-7SXJXB/$file/AlbertsonsFlyer.pdf

Under the agreement, Albertsons will provide consumer restitution to any customers who were shopping for certain items based on their sales prices in the flyer, but were unable to find the advertised prices in the stores. Valid reimbursement claims must be based on newspaper ads between July 20 and August 15, 2008; must include the address or location of one or more of the Albertsons supermarkets which did not honor the ads; and must state the Albertsons supermarket did not honor a price advertised in the newspaper ad. A proof of purchase will also be required and consumers may only file one claim per household.

Customers may download a claim form for reimbursement on the Attorney General’s website at http://www.myfloridalegal.com/albertsons or may call 1-866-966-7226 to request a reimbursement form by mail. Claims forms must be submitted on or before August 3, 2009, as determined by postmark date. The form is available online at: http://myfloridalegal.com/webfiles.nsf/WF/KGRG-7SWHWU/$file/AlbertsonsClaimForm.pdf

In addition to consumer restitution, the agreement contains injunctive relief requiring that Albertsons’ print advertising clearly and conspicuously disclose whether the advertised prices will not apply to certain Albertsons stores in the geographic area where the ad is circulated.