The merger will result in store closures.
Kroger, Albertsons, and C&S have made for firm public commitments that NO STORES will close as a result of the merger.1
This merger will cause layoffs.
Kroger, Albertsons, and C&S have made for firm public commitments to protect worker pay and benefits, including ZERO job losses for all frontline associates.2
Frontline workers will gain from $1 billion in increased wages and benefits.3
This merger will raise prices.
Kroger will invest $1 billion in lower prices4 and has a proven track record of lowering prices following other transactions, such as Harris Teeter and Roundy's5. This deal will ultimately benefit consumers as they will have access to more choices and lower prices.
The largest and second largest grocery companies are merging.
Walmart is the country's largest grocer by a wide margin with a 29% U.S. grocery market share.6
Costco's U.S. grocery business is over 40% larger than Albertsons.
Kroger is fourth in revenue behind Walmart, Amazon, and Costco and will continue to be fourth after the merger.7
This merger will result in fewer pharmacies and create "pharmacy deserts" in underserved areas.
Kroger and C&S have made firm public commitments that all pharmacies in acquired and divested stores will continue to operate the same as they do now.8
Kroger has invested heavily in operating pharmacies throughout the country, including underserved areas,9 and both Kroger and C&S have track records of feeding people and providing retail health services.
Store divestitures do not work and will only result in store closures.
C&S, which has made a firm public commitment that no stores will close as a result of the merger, is a strong, well-capitalized corporate buyer with experience in managing complex supply-chain operations for the stores it operates throughout the country as well as the more than 7,700 independent grocers that it supplies with food daily.10
C&S will also acquire rights to continue using the banners that consumers trust.11
Grocers like Kroger and Albertsons are to blame for food inflation.
The primary causes of current food inflation are the Covid-19 pandemic, the ongoing war in Ukraine, labor shortages, and food manufacturers passing on cost increases.12
Kroger has consistently invested in lower prices and maintained remarkably slim profit margins (as small as 1 or 2% in a good year) due in part to extreme price competition from larger national and discount grocers and an unprecedented degree of choice and price transparency available to consumers.13