Kroger Planning to Buy Albertsons; What Does That Mean For Lafayette Shoppers?

In a huge announcement, Kroger says they are planning to buy Albertsons as part of a $25 billion deal. If the merger goes through, analysts say it could possibly create one of the largest supermarket chains in the country.

Combined, both Kroger and Albertsons combine to reach over 85 million households, according to this Reuters article.

How Many Albertsons Locations are in Louisiana?

If you look at the map below, you will notice that most of the Albertsons stores in Louisiana are located in the Baton Rouge area (7) and Lafayette Parish (4), with a couple of locations in the Lake Charles area, a one location each in central, northwest, and southeast Louisiana - 16 total.

How Many Kroger Locations are in Louisiana?

Kroger is mostly located in Shreveport/Bossier City (5) but they also have locations in Alexandria (1) and the Lake Charles area (2) as well - 8 total.

What Does This Mean For Lafayette?

That is a great question. Will this mean that the Hub City - as well as shoppers in Broussard - will soon start seeing the Kroger logo, which hasn't been seen in Lafayette since the 1980's? Or will the stores continue to keep the Albertsons logo but be run by Kroger management and carry Kroger products?

What Does This Mean For Shoppers?

Retail analysts are praising this move. In this article from Louisiana Radio Network, retail analyst Wade Ragas says consumers will like the streamlining of products and it's potential of saving the customers money.

I think it’ll have more choices then they have now because any redundancies they have between the stores they’ll tend to reduce those a bit and introduce new product,” said Ragas. “They (the merger) may be able to reduce the cost and price. Everyone’s aware the recession likelihood is high so that means you're not trying to see how elaborate you can make the cost. You're trying to minimize cost.

 

When Will the Deal Be Finalized?

If the federal government approves the merger, the deal is expected to close in 2024. Ragas says to expect some stores to be sold in the process, likely some of the smaller ones. And, there could be complaints lodged against the merger that the federal government would have to consider as well - potential antitrust roadblocks.

Keep in mind, this is a merger involving the No. 1 and 2 standalone grocers in the United States and will bring nearly 5,000 stores together, points out Reuters.