Since first announcing plans to merge in Oct. 2022, leadership from Kroger and Albertsons, two of the largest supermarket chains in the country, have maintained the deal is necessary in order to compete with the increasingly monopolistic companies, like Amazon and Walmart, that have pushed their way into the grocery business in recent years. It’s a claim that’s been met with significant skepticism from some state-level and federal legislators and analysts who predict the merger would simply result in higher grocery prices.
“This supermarket mega-merger comes as American consumers have seen the cost of groceries rise steadily over the past few years,” said Henry Liu, director of the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Competition, in February. “Kroger’s acquisition of Albertsons would lead to additional grocery price hikes for everyday goods, further exacerbating the financial strain consumers across the country face today.”
