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Kroger to buy Albertsons?

Started by elsmere241, October 13, 2022, 03:36:57 PM

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elsmere241

Long ago (up until the mid-1980s) Safeway was a major player in Salt Lake.


thenetwork

In Colorado, Safeway and King Sooper/City Market are THE competitors in most cities, with Walmart Supercenters a nearby 3rd in some towns and Target just a blip.

In Western CO, Safeway/Albertsons has been slowly leaving the market, leaving the grocery biz to Walmart and Kroger (King/City) to duke it out.

Comparing the two, Safeway has always been more expensive than Kroger, and the staff don't seem to be as friendly as those in Kroger stores -- not as much staff eother.  As far as being busy, it is night and day, with Kroger always busy and most Safeways usually ghost towns.

And as far as advertising in this region, Safeway pretty much advertises thru the weekly newspaper inserts.  Kroger does the weekly ads, but they bombard you with TV and some radio ads as well.

Colorado will likely see a lot of post-merger store closures as many Krogers are practically neighbors with Safeways. 

Ted$8roadFan

I almost forgot that Albertson's now owns the Shaws/Star Markets in New England, making them subject to this deal. IMO, this merger can only be a good thing, as the incumbent stores tend to be more expensive, have lesser quality product, and in many cases look as though they haven't been updated since the 1980s/early 1990s.

NWI_Irish96

In Northwest Indiana, there are no Kroger stores. There are a couple Jewel/Osco, owned by Albertson's. The largest market share is Strack & Van Tyl, which is locally owned. Aldi, Meijer and Wal-mart are probably with Jewel/Osco in the next tier after Strack.
Indiana: counties 100%, highways 100%
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bwana39

Albertson's is just a giant conglomerate of companies that had been aggregated by its debtholders. Albertson's itself was in bankruptcy. When Albertson's purchased / merged with Safeway, Safeway and its its subsidiaries were very little better off.

While there are parts of Albertsons that are a good fit with Kroger, most of it is just excess capacity.  I cannot see it passing antitrust unless it sells off about 75% of Albertson's capacity. That said cherry picking which stores from the assortment both companies hold is a great way to pick the lucrative locations and discard the marginal ones.

The bottom line is many stores in older markets will be sold / closed and newer neighborhoods will have continued upper level services.
Let's build what we need as economically as possible.

bandit957

Quote from: bwana39 on October 15, 2022, 02:13:51 PMThe bottom line is many stores in older markets will be sold / closed and newer neighborhoods will have continued upper level services.

In other words, more food deserts.
Might as well face it, pooing is cool

gonealookin

Quote from: bandit957 on October 15, 2022, 02:14:49 PM
Quote from: bwana39 on October 15, 2022, 02:13:51 PMThe bottom line is many stores in older markets will be sold / closed and newer neighborhoods will have continued upper level services.

In other words, more food deserts.

One thing I've noticed about the Safeway brand is that they have maintained stores in some very small places out here in the West, where they are the only show in town.  Examples are Hawthorne NV on US 95, Lakeview OR and Burns OR on US 395 and Enterprise OR on Oregon 82.  These are usually buildings that are mostly unmodified since their original construction, probably in the 1960s, very small by modern supermarket standards with perhaps only 7 or 8 aisles, but still they manage to carry a reasonably full selection of groceries.  If the Safeway didn't exist in these towns they would only have corner market/gas station mini-marts and dollar store type of places.

ibthebigd

I'm curious what will happen in San Diego with Vons Ralph's and Albertsons.

SM-G996U


Road Hog

This is just going to kick the DFW grocery market into hyperdrive.

Plus, Jerry Jones is gonna have to make a tough choice because Albertson's is a current team sponsor and Kroger is unionized.

bing101

If Kroger and Albertsons were forced to divest they would have to divest either Vons or Ralphs in Los Angeles.

https://abc7.com/albertsons-kroger-merger-ralphs/12327949/




Rothman

Quote from: bing101 on October 16, 2022, 04:28:02 PM
If Kroger and Albertsons were forced to divest they would have to divest either Vons or Ralphs in Los Angeles.

https://abc7.com/albertsons-kroger-merger-ralphs/12327949/
Liebowski's got his Ralph's card.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.

-- US 175 --

Quote from: Road Hog on October 16, 2022, 03:57:09 AM
This is just going to kick the DFW grocery market into hyperdrive.

With H-E-B's new push further into north TX/DFW, I have to wonder how they'll end up playing into the Kroger/Albertsons deal.  Albertsons says there will be some kind of spinoff company, but the Feds haven't had their say yet.

doorknob60

This would be bad in the Northwest. In Boise for example, Albertsons is by far the biggest grocery chain (they started here after all), and then Fred Meyer is a strong second. Then you have Winco, Walmart, and Costco which are all very popular, but have fewer locations than the others. Situation is similar in Portland and Seattle, except most of the Albertsons are Safeway, and throw in some QFC locations.

Combining the chains could be bad for competition, but if stores end up closing as a result of this (seems likely, as we saw a good amount of that in the Albertsons/Safeway merger), that's even worse IMO and could create some food deserts. For example, the Albertsons in Boise on Orchard and Overland is about a mile from a Fred Meyer, and is in a shopping center that already has fairly high vacancy (there's just more storefronts than there needs to be). I could see them closing that Albertsons, and that whole shopping center would be almost a ghost town, would be bad for the area. Maybe another chain like Winco could take over some of the stores, but Haggen tried that in the Safeway/Albertsons merger and that was a disaster.

bing101

#38

https://www.foodsco.net/stores/search?searchText=94510
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_4_Less
Kroger in Northern California is known as Food 4 Less and Foods Co. However in Northern California Kroger does not do as much advertising here as Safeway, Save Mart, Grocery outlet and Raleys in the Sacramento and Bay Area. I remember when I was on I-80 in Solano County I seen a Ralph's Truck near the Fairfield Truck Scales. I had no idea at the time it was Kroger owning Foods Co. In NorCal and it's not that well advertised in Bay Area and Sacramento. At the time I could not identify a Ralph's Distribution center in Northern California since they do not have stores in the area.  I thought Ralph's was considering going to NorCal at one point with no official statement.

bing101


If this is true that there will be Monopolies in some areas wouldn't Albertsons and Kroger be required to divest in some parts of the USA to third parties like Stater Brothers, Save Mart and others.

Road Hog

Quote from: -- US 175 -- on October 17, 2022, 06:51:55 AM
Quote from: Road Hog on October 16, 2022, 03:57:09 AM
This is just going to kick the DFW grocery market into hyperdrive.

With H-E-B's new push further into north TX/DFW, I have to wonder how they'll end up playing into the Kroger/Albertsons deal.  Albertsons says there will be some kind of spinoff company, but the Feds haven't had their say yet.
I dunno about DFW. This market is so ultracompetitive with so many players (and another one coming in H-E-B), it's likely Albertsons will be allowed to stay. Assuming they keep the two brands separate.

ibthebigd

Kroger already has a monopoly in several places unless you count Walmart Meijer and the upscale grocery stores.

Indianapolis
Lexington Ky
Louisville
Cincinnati

SM-G996U


hbelkins

Quote from: ibthebigd on October 18, 2022, 05:11:46 AM
Kroger already has a monopoly in several places unless you count Walmart Meijer and the upscale grocery stores.

Indianapolis
Lexington Ky
Louisville
Cincinnati

SM-G996U

Can't really speak to the other three cities, but there's competition in Lexington. Not counting Meijer or Walmart, Save-A-Lot is well-established.

And Publix is coming to Louisville.

Unless Kroger has a sale, I'd rather shop at Walmart anyway. Prices are generally cheaper. I've said this many times before, but I've always found Kroger's non-sale prices to be very expensive.


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

bandit957

Kroger has a monopoly in Cincinnati.

In my day, we usually went to the nearby IGA or Thriftway, but that was when there used to be a thing called competition.
Might as well face it, pooing is cool

SP Cook

Another way of saying "unless you count _____, then Kroger has a monopoly"  is "Kroger doesn't have a monopoly" .

JoePCool14

Hmm, not too happy with this one...

:) Needs more... :sombrero: Not quite... :bigass: Perfect.
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Road Hog

When I lived in North Little Rock briefly again last decade, Kroger still had a stranglehold on the local grocery market, just as I remembered as a kid. Not necessarily a "monopoly," but definite market dominance. Here in Texas, Kroger has identified Prosper as its next frontier and has three Marketplaces that are "designed" to compete with Wally World.  Um, nice try.

elsmere241


bandit957

Quote from: bandit957 on October 18, 2022, 01:36:03 PM
Kroger has a monopoly in Cincinnati.

In my day, we usually went to the nearby IGA or Thriftway, but that was when there used to be a thing called competition.

We also occasionally went to Market Square or Fazio's. In the late 1970s, Market Square became part of a chain called Liberal.

We actually did go to Kroger occasionally, but even when our neighborhood got a Kroger, we still usually went to IGA or Thriftway.
Might as well face it, pooing is cool

bandit957

When I was about 4 years old, someone soiled their pants at Kroger and we called it "the Kroger incident."
Might as well face it, pooing is cool



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