An auction for the 33 core Haggen grocery stores has been pushed back from Friday to Feb. 11.

The auction is planned to be held in the law offices of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan in New York City, according to court documents filed Tuesday.

The Bellingham-based grocery store chain is in bankruptcy after buying 146 stores across the West as part of the Safeway-Albertsons merger last year.

The acquisition quickly proved too much for the chain to handle. Haggen has shut down more than two dozen stores and sold dozens more to other chains, including some back to Albertsons.

Haggen asked last November to sell its core profitable stores in the Northwest. An auction had originally been scheduled for Jan. 8, but was pushed back.