6 days Ago By Wayne Williams
As competition intensifies across various sectors, few industries feel the heat more than grocery retail. I’m generally the grocery shopper in our family, and I buy our groceries from Amazon, Costco, King Soopers, Sam’s Club, and Walmart, depending on the week and the sales. My son and his wife buy many of their groceries from Sprouts and ethnic grocery stores.
In Colorado, where growing populations and changing consumer habits are reshaping the market, grocery retailers Albertsons/Safeway and Kroger, the parent company to the popular grocery chains King Soopers and City Market, are at a critical crossroads. The companies are pursuing a merger necessary for the survival of traditional grocery stores and that will result in significant advantages for consumers, workers and Colorado’s economic future. It is no secret that families are feeling the pinch as the cost of living steadily rises in Colorado.
The Kroger-Albertsons merger could offer real relief for shoppers at the checkout counter by using their combined resources to lower grocery prices, as Kroger has a record of doing with their previous acquisitions of Harris Teeter’s and Roundy’s. Lowering prices for customers is something that should be celebrated. The case that the Colorado attorney general is waging against Kroger and Albertsons is based on false pretenses, wasting taxpayer dollars and putting workers and Colorado shoppers in a potentially precarious position.
The government’s case ignores the reality that I and many other Coloradans buy groceries from lots of places — not just traditional grocery stores. Indeed, according to the Wall Street Journal the merger would only give Kroger 13% of the market — nowhere near control — and far less than Walmart’s 22%. Stopping the merger would lead to layoffs, store closures or grocery stores closing in certain markets, disrupting communities and creating food deserts in rural areas.
Albertsons’ CEO has testified that without the combined resources of Kroger, they would have to resort to these cost-saving measures, hurting Coloradans and our local economies. Kroger has committed to address the concerns that the merger could reduce competition by agreeing to sell 91 Colorado stores to C&S Wholesale Grocers, a national operator of grocery chains such as Grand Union and Piggly Wiggly. This means that in the entire state of Colorado Kroger stores will only grow by 14 stores.
Moreover, the companies have committed to ensuring no store closures or layoffs of front-line workers as part of this sale. Meanwhile, Kroger will invest $40 million in Colorado and immediately lower prices on essential items for shoppers. In an economy where food inflation is only continuing to rise, the lower grocery bill will be a great relief to families in our state.
At its core, the Kroger-Albertsons merger strengthens the ability of our local grocery stores to compete in an industry increasingly dominated by national giants like Walmart, Costco, and Amazon. The merger is necessary for Kroger and Albertsons to remain competitive against these global chains, ensuring that consumers in Colorado benefit from a wider range of choices and better pricing across grocery formats. The Kroger-Albertsons merger is a net positive for Colorado.
It strengthens competition, protects jobs, supports local businesses and delivers real savings to consumers. At a time when economic pressures are impacting households across the state, this merger provides a path toward a more affordable grocery shopping experience for Coloradans. It’s time to embrace the future of local grocery retail in Colorado and preserve the grocery industry, and the Kroger-Albertsons merger is a step in the right direction.
Wayne Williams, a Colorado Springs attorney, served as Colorado’s 38th secretary of state. He also has served as El Paso County clerk and recorder; as an El Paso County commissioner, and as a Colorado Springs City Council member..
