On July 25 a Denver District Court granted a Preliminary Injunction that will block the nationwide merger between grocery giants Kroger and Albertsons, as well as the associated sale of more than 500 stores nationwide to C&S Wholesale Grocers, including 91 Safeway and Albertsons stores in Colorado. The injunction will expire five business days after the Court rules on Colorado’s application for a permanent injunction. The court will consider the potential permanent injunction at what is anticipated to be a 14-day trial now set to begin Sept. 30.
“We’re pleased with the court’s decision to temporarily halt the proposed mega-merger, which would have devastating impacts in communities here in Colorado and across the country,” said United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 7 President Kim Cordova in a news release. “Our members and customers alike are concerned about potential job losses, food and pharmacy deserts, increased food prices, cost to food suppliers and a lack of competition if the merger goes through. It’s not a done deal, and we will continue to do all we can to stop the merger.”
The stores to be affected by the merger include the Westside Safeway on Colorado Avenue, which serves as one of the only grocery stores for residents of Manitou Springs and Old Colorado City. Under the current merger plan, the Colorado Avenue Safeway will be sold to C&S Wholesale Grocers, the company that operates the Piggly Wiggly chain of stores.
“Coloradans are concerned about undue consolidation and its harmful impacts on consumers, workers and suppliers,” said Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, a plaintiff in the lawsuit to stop the merger, in a February news release. “After 19 town halls across the state, I am convinced that Coloradans think this merger between the two supermarket chains would lead to stores closing, higher prices, fewer jobs, worse customer service and less resilient supply chains.”
Legal proceedings are also scheduled in Washington State and a federal case brought by the Federal Trade Commission to be heard in the United States District Court for the District of Oregon. The FTC is also challenging the merger in an internal administrative action.
For more information, see “Colorado Ave. Safeway to be impacted by grocery chain merger” in the July 26 issue of the Pikes Peak Bulletin.