Monday, the trial to determine if regulators can stop the merger of the nation’s two largest grocery chains began in a federal court in Portland, Oregon.
On Broadway, the company lined up to take over one of the street’s two QFC supermarkets has filed some of its first paperwork to make the transaction a reality.
The company formed by C&S Wholesale Grocers has applied to assume the liquor license for the QFC grocery store in Capitol Hill’s Harvard Market shopping center, public records show.
The filing is one of a flurry of similar filings by the company in the county and across the state as it begins the process of taking over the stores, according to the state liquor board.
CHS reported here in July on the appearance of both Capitol Hill QFC grocery stores on the roster of “Planned Divestiture Store, Distribution Center, and Plant Locations” as industry giants Kroger and Albertsons have promised to shed hundreds of locations as they work toward a $25 billion merger.
The $1.9 billion sale would include 579 stores across the country including 124 in Washington to be acquired by C&S, owner of the Piggly Wiggly brand that was once a staple on Capitol Hill and across the city.
Many Capitol Hill shoppers will hope the liquor license filing is a small but clear indication that C&S plans to keep the Harvard Market location open if the merger is completed and the sell-off of the 579 stores is finalized. The company has not filed a similar application for the nearby Broadway Market location but it is possible the paperwork could still be coming. The company’s flurry of applications have already come in two batches this summer. More could be on the way.
CHS has reached out to C&S to learn more.
UPDATE: In a statement sent to C&S, a company spokesperson said the grocer intends to “operate” all the stores listed in the divestiture document — including the Broadway Market QFC. In the statement, the spokesperson also reminds that the acquisition agreement is “subject to Kroger and Albertsons resolving the pending cases in court” —
As part of C&S’s definitive agreement with The Kroger Co. and Albertsons Companies Inc. companies, the following distribution centers and store locations are designated for acquisition by C&S.1918 Winter Street Partners, a subsidiary of C&S Wholesale Grocers, LLC will operate these stores. The new agreement increased distribution capacity, expanded transition services agreements and included a dairy facility. The transaction is not final and C&S’s agreement is subject to Kroger and Albertsons resolving the pending cases in court.
We are also very excited to welcome thousands of highly skilled grocery retail, store and distribution team members from Kroger and Albertsons who are currently responsible for these supermarkets. Their knowledge, along with C&S’s wholesale and supply expertise, will ensure these stores continue to successfully serve their communities. C&S will recognize the union workforce and maintain all collective bargaining agreements. We are committed to retaining frontline employees and further investing in growth.
C&S is well prepared to successfully operate these stores for many generations to come. We have an experienced management team with an extensive background in food retail and distribution, and the financial strength to continue investing in growth. Our retail transformation furthers C&S’s ability to maintain our legacy of braggingly happy customers.
Meanwhile, the Federal Trade Commission began its arguments in court Monday against the Kroger-Albertsons merger saying the deal would damage competition in the industry and lead to even higher prices for consumers. Kroger and Albertsons defended the merger saying a deal “would bolster their leverage with suppliers and improve competition against major retailers like Costco, Amazon and Walmart,” the New York Times reports.
Groceries have become a talking point in the presidential election with Democrats promising a federal ban on price-gouging.
The trial is expected to last about three weeks.
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They’ll stay open… for about as long as the average store sold to Haggen by Safeway/Albertsons stayed open the last time this happened. Long enough to dodge regulation.
Through all this I keep thinking of the long term employees at the 2 sites I’ve come to know over the years. I still refuse to use the auto checkout in solidarity even though it now may be an empty gesture.
I really don’t think it was to dodge a regulation. From what I know, Haggen just utterly failed at the expansion. I think they had every intention to keep them open and just mucked it up.
Safeway/Albertsons knowingly sold them under performing stores without disclosing. Haggen more failed at doing their homework for the sites they were buying, but there’s only so much research they could have done if Safeway/Albertsons is withholding or misconstruing financial details. You don’t become market leaders in by being honest and moral corporations.
Maybe the grocery store will turn into a boba tea shop -_-
The irony will be that everyone who fostered all the FUD over ‘omg monopoly’ ‘omg prices’ will end up with exactly what they wanted when half of them close in the near term and the remainder charge more because….well, where else are you gonna shop?
Be careful what you wish for.
Huh? The people saying ‘omg monopoly’ are the ones who are against the merger.
Well here we go. Complete and total BS from Kroger as we all would expect.
Kroger is such a disgusting company who cannot be trusted. They have invested billions into Republicans in office and don’t care about anything but money.
Trader Joe’s has much better prices and better food- I don’t mind watching this dump of a store crumble. The managers are rude too and complicit.
As the city becomes more desirable for the pedestrians who utilize the corridors and such we will see more businesses. Until then, no capitalist endeavor is going to hang around and wait. Competition is stiff and stagnant at the same time. Times are stranger for metropolitan cities. But we will get back there. I think believing in the idea that Seattle is Seattle circa 1990’s-2012 is dangerous thinking. This is Seattle 2024. Change has come and gone and arrived again. Let’s be involved. More co-ops!
Almost all bartells gone as result of merger (and poor finances). I wonder exactly how unprofitable those two qfc are, against say the uvillage one (and bartells is still going at uvillage). Location, location, location.
You nailed it.
Think of it this way.
The era of free money and radical capitalism is on it’s inevitable decline.
So people are trying to buy up competition to liquidate the lowest performing stores. Not only survive, but thrive in a properly regulated economy. The one thing they say is impossible without money from us. Be the sole survivor whilst you eliminate everyone off the island one by one. Be too big too fail is the new think. Gee, I wonder why that is?
Like privatising school busses. The poor kids walk. The rich kids ride. Whites over here. Everyone else stuck over there, forever. Get county transit service or not. Good roads and parks. Anything privatised can and will be exploited for profits. Inflation has outpaced salaries for over 40 years. Can you imagine privatising federal parks? Look at the Amazon forest for a preview.
The poluters come in when these folks are desperate. Promising they will create a greatly exaggerated amount of jobs. And “right to work” laws was the pathway, hand in hand with permanent tax exemptions. No real money flowing into state coffers and lower pay. Confederacy livin’ is good livin’, right? As long as ciggies, alcohol’s and gas is cheap. Life is good. Dollar General is all they need. Not realizing it’s a complete ripoff. You pay more at a dollar store than a Walmart etc. for a bar of soap. Shrinkflation is the tool they use to trick people into thinking they are getting a deal. When actually their pockets are picked daily. Many of those people also love collecting junk. A collection of shiny things. Toys from China and other super low quality items.
Appalachia is stuck in time. Corporations won’t start companies in deep red states.
Reagan’s tax cuts and deregulation started the fall. Now we are here being denied rights to our own bodies. Our privacy. Our dignity and undying loyalty to a tyrant who’s never heard the word no.
The inevitable is wealth disparity and a divided nation. Unsurprisingly the pendulum is swinging to the left now. New Deal 2.0 is what this country needs.
I thought I read how AlbertFC is selling all the locations on the hill and beyond. If one group owns them all, why would they keep all of them open? Why wouldn’t they sell half and pocket the sale price of the land? Why wouldn’t they raise prices? They will play the safety theft card and do what they intended all along.
Something I learned from an education in Economics: monopoly is the enemy of good management.