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The possibility that Albertsons Inc. will be bought and its new owners will jettison the 58 Colorado stores is good news for competing retailers who want to snatch up the valuable real estate used by the nation’s No. 2 grocer.

But for workers and Albertsons patrons, the potential sale to an investment group evoked a mix of reactions Monday, ranging from trepidation from employees to annoyance from customers.

“Everybody is afraid to lose their jobs,” said Jeff Beierle, a 39-year-old worker at an Albertsons store in the Lowry redevelopment. “I hope that doesn’t happen.”

The Boise, Idaho-based grocer has 4,725 workers in Colorado, including 325 at a Denver distribution center. It ranks as the state’s No. 4 supermarket chain behind Kroger’s King Soopers division, Safeway and Wal-Mart.

The group – Cerberus Capital, Kimco Realty Corp. and supermarket chain Supervalu Inc. – is poised to buy the grocer for $9.6 billion, according to published reports.

Minnesota-based Supervalu closed nine Cub Foods stores in Colorado in 2003, and it’s unlikely the company would continue operating in the state, said Phil Hicks of Denver’s David/Hicks Brokerage.

Instead, the group is likely to sell the stores piecemeal, with established grocers snapping up the best locations. Other potential buyers would include health clubs, churches, large liquor stores and smaller markets such as Wild Oats and Sunflower.

Such sales could breathe life into struggling strip malls that include Albertsons, Hicks said.

“They have a lot of good real estate,” Hicks said.

The stores also could be sold to owners who would carve them into pieces for smaller retailers, said Peter Pavlakis, a partner at Legend Retail Group.

Albertsons stores range from 30,000 square feet to 50,000 square feet, according to a research report by UBS Investment Research.

The company owns about 60 percent of its 120 million- square-foot real-estate portfolio, with 30 percent of that in Dallas, the report showed.

A large sale and leaseback deal would be difficult to achieve because of the large amount of space, the report states.

If some Albertsons stores were to close, surrounding retailers could be hurt.

Roger Goldsmith, who has run Goldsmith Custom Jewelry in Thornton for 28 years, said if the nearby Albertsons closed, “We’d probably move.”

“It’s the biggest draw we have,” said Goldsmith, 60. “It would be just one more reason to leave.”

But, said real-estate expert Pavlakis, if “a Kings or Safeway takes a couple stores, then the other tenants will be in a better position in the long run. Until that happens, it will be a struggle for them.”

Several customers, meanwhile, remained hopeful Monday that their local Albertsons would stay that way.

“I would miss it,” said Kurt Freiburghaus, 63. “They have good bargains.”

Other shoppers echoed those sentiments.

“For the products I buy, it’s a lot better than other grocery stores,” said Virginia Robertson, 80, of Thornton. “I find a lot of bargains here.”

Hyla Schneider, 37, said if the Albertsons at the Lowry redevelopment changes into anything other than a supermarket, “that would be a big problem” because she would need to drive farther to shop at another grocer.

But, she said, if it becomes a Whole Foods, “I’d be happy.”

Staff writer Will Shanley can be reached at 303-820-1260 or wshanley@denverpost.com.