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I don't understand all the talk here about grocery store monopolies - there's still Walmart, Target, and Aldi, with Lidl now starting to move in on that action,

I don't understand all the talk here about grocery store monopolies - there's still Walmart, Target, and Aldi, with Lidl now starting to move in on that action, not to mention the regional chains such as Giant Eagle, Meijer, Marc's, Publix and Piggly Wiggly amongst several others. At least where I live I'm seeing more and more competition in the grocer space, not less. I don't see how this merger is going to change that.

jvolkman 4y ago
As I posted elsewhere, Seattle has about 30 standard chain grocery stores within city limits and all are owned by Albertsons or Kroger. The rest are smaller operations, boutiques like like Trader Joe's, or higher-priced like Whole Foods. There is no Walmart in Seattle, and many of the 4-5 Targets are smaller stores with limited selection.
galdosdi 4y ago
Keep in mind that both Kroger and Albertsons each already own several other large grocery store brands, so some of that abundance of choice is an illusion.
- taylodl 4y ago
  Good point! Didn't think of that.
xienze 4y ago
Depends where you live I suppose. I live in an area where there must be at least a dozen different grocery stores in a twenty miles radius. But I'm sure there's plenty of places in the country where that's not the case.
socialismisok 4y ago
Many, many places don't have that competition. Plenty of communities are at risk of losing their two local grocery stores and seeing them become just one. Grocers are not evenly distributed, so while you are correct that at a national level there exists competition, it doesn't exist everywhere. And while a monoculture in an area might represent an opportunity for a grocery store to disrupt things, the people living in that monoculture gain no benefit from that opportunity - they have to live with the monoculture until someone maybe fixes the problem.
- taylodl 4y ago
  Even so, my understanding is there's not much overlap between Kroger and Albertsons so I'd expect their merger to have minimal impacts to local markets.
  - function_seven 4y ago
    The last time this happened (Albertsons/Safeway), many of my local Albertsons locations were spun out to another company to appease regulators. That company failed almost immediately and Albertsons bought those locations back. In my area the chain grocers are now Albertsons and Kroger. That’s it. The regional chain is Stater Bros. I don’t know if Southern California is an anomaly or not though.
    - jdeibele 4y ago
      I was guessing that you were in Oregon or Washington because something similar happened here: a local chain (Haggen) tried to take over a bunch of stores and ended up in bankruptcy. Trying to take over 5X times as many stores as you were running before is a huge operational challenge. Haggen also alleged bad information from Albertson's. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haggen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haggen
      - function_seven 4y ago
        Nope. California, but yes it was Haggen. Thanks for reminding me of the name, I had forgotten it! I remember going there once and being gobsmacked at how expensive the place was. Like they were trying to charge Whole Foods prices for a regular grocery store. > Trying to take over 5X times as many stores as you were running before is a huge operational challenge. It reminded me of Frontier (tiny little telco) buying up a huge chunk of Verizon's wireline business in 2009. They still run it, but it's been rough. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontier_Communications#Purchase_of_Verizon_lines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontier_Communications#Purcha...
      - YLE118 4y ago

jvolkman 4y ago

As I posted elsewhere, Seattle has about 30 standard chain grocery stores within city limits and all are owned by Albertsons or Kroger. The rest are smaller operations, boutiques like like Trader Joe's, or higher-priced like Whole Foods. There is no Walmart in Seattle, and many of the 4-5 Targets are smaller stores with limited selection.

galdosdi 4y ago

Keep in mind that both Kroger and Albertsons each already own several other large grocery store brands, so some of that abundance of choice is an illusion.

taylodl 4y ago
Good point! Didn't think of that.

xienze 4y ago

Depends where you live I suppose. I live in an area where there must be at least a dozen different grocery stores in a twenty miles radius. But I'm sure there's plenty of places in the country where that's not the case.

socialismisok 4y ago

Many, many places don't have that competition. Plenty of communities are at risk of losing their two local grocery stores and seeing them become just one. Grocers are not evenly distributed, so while you are correct that at a national level there exists competition, it doesn't exist everywhere. And while a monoculture in an area might represent an opportunity for a grocery store to disrupt things, the people living in that monoculture gain no benefit from that opportunity - they have to live with the monoculture until someone maybe fixes the problem.

taylodl 4y ago
Even so, my understanding is there's not much overlap between Kroger and Albertsons so I'd expect their merger to have minimal impacts to local markets.
- function_seven 4y ago
  The last time this happened (Albertsons/Safeway), many of my local Albertsons locations were spun out to another company to appease regulators. That company failed almost immediately and Albertsons bought those locations back. In my area the chain grocers are now Albertsons and Kroger. That’s it. The regional chain is Stater Bros. I don’t know if Southern California is an anomaly or not though.
  - jdeibele 4y ago
    I was guessing that you were in Oregon or Washington because something similar happened here: a local chain (Haggen) tried to take over a bunch of stores and ended up in bankruptcy. Trying to take over 5X times as many stores as you were running before is a huge operational challenge. Haggen also alleged bad information from Albertson's. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haggen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haggen
    - function_seven 4y ago
      Nope. California, but yes it was Haggen. Thanks for reminding me of the name, I had forgotten it! I remember going there once and being gobsmacked at how expensive the place was. Like they were trying to charge Whole Foods prices for a regular grocery store. > Trying to take over 5X times as many stores as you were running before is a huge operational challenge. It reminded me of Frontier (tiny little telco) buying up a huge chunk of Verizon's wireline business in 2009. They still run it, but it's been rough. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontier_Communications#Purchase_of_Verizon_lines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontier_Communications#Purcha...
    - YLE118 4y ago