Dozens of discount grocery stores will soon be checking out of the Philadelphia area.
Bottom Dollar Food says it will close 46 locations in Philadelphia by Jan. 15. Another 20 stores will close in the Pittsburgh area.
The company said Friday that 2,200 affected workers will receive severance pay, and some will get job counseling.
Bottom Dollar's parent company announced last month that it was selling the locations to the Aldi supermarket chain. The transaction had been expected to close in the first quarter of 2015.
Aldi has previously said it plans to expand operations in the United States, but has not committed to reopening the Bottom Dollar sites.
The Bottom Dollar locations were touted as cures to food deserts in depressed neighborhoods of Philly and the surrounding suburbs.
Bottom Dollar is operated by Delhaize America, a North Carolina-based subsidiary of Belgian parent company Delhaize Group.
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