TUCSON, Ariz. — A federal judge paused a potential $24.6 billion merger between grocery giants Kroger and Albertsons. After a three week trial in Oregon, U.S. District Court Judge Adrienne Nelson issued the ruling, blocking the merger.
Kroger and Albertsons originally proposed the merger in 2022, but the FTC sued to block that merger earlier this year, arguing that the proposed merger would eliminate competition between the two companies, violate antitrust law, lower wages and raise prices.
The two companies said it would preserve competition by helping the retailers compete against stores like Walmart, Amazon and Costco.
Here in Arizona, Albertsons has 30 stores. Safeway, which is owned by Albertsons, has 20 Arizona locations. Kroger owns Fry's Food and Drug, which has 129 locations statewide.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes says together, the two companies employ 35,000 Arizonans and are two of the top ten employers in the state.
For local grocery shoppers, like Devin Reed, cost is often at the top of the list when he's deciding where to shop.
“The times that we’re living in," he said, "I think people generally are looking for who’s got the product they need at the lowest price.”
Reed said he used to shop at Albertsons a couple times a week when he lived nearby, but after he moved, he started switching up where he goes.
“The key thing is who’s got the better deal at the time that I’m shopping,” he said.
Mayes says she'll continue to oppose the merger though “the two companies have said in the past that if the judge in the case issued an injunction, they likely would drop the proposed merger, so we’ll see what they end up doing.”
