A total of 124 grocery stores in Washington state — including several in Pierce County — will be sold to New Hampshire-based C&S Wholesale Grocers as the corporate merger of Kroger and Albertsons moves forward.
Kroger and Albertsons on July 9 released the locations of 579 stores across the nation that it plans to sell as part of a corporate merger, first announced in 2022. Cities with the highest number of stores affected include Seattle with 16 stores and Vancouver with nine stores.
Leaders of the grocery companies claim the merger and sale won’t change anything, but local unions say the merger would harm workers and customers.
In addition to its own stores, Kroger owns the QFC and Fred Meyer brands while Albertsons owns the Safeway and Haggen brands.
C&S owns the Piggly Wiggly and Grand Union brands, with more than 600 Piggly Wiggly stores in 18 states in the South and Midwest and 11 Grand Union stores in New York and Vermont, according to the websites for each brand.
The chief executive officers of Kroger and Albertsons said in a joint video statement that the sales will lead to lower prices and more choices for customers.
“Divested stores are not closed stores,” Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen said in a video statement.
McMullen added that C&S has said it will continue to operate the stores as they are today and honor all collective bargaining agreements. He said the company will not close stores or lay off employees.
‘Not a done deal’
A coalition of United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) local unions released the following statement in response to the Kroger-Albertsons announcement:
“Today’s (July 9) announcement changes nothing,” said Tom Geiger, special projects director for Seattle-based UFCW 3000. “The merger is not a done deal, far from it. We remain focused on stopping the proposed mega-merger for the same reasons we have stated since it was first announced over 20 months ago — because we know it would harm workers, it would harm shoppers, it would harm suppliers and communities, and it is illegal.
“The merger proposal was rejected in January and February by the Attorneys General from the states of Colorado and Washington and the Federal Trade Commission. We applaud their actions. They have been in possession of this proposed divestiture list, made public today by the companies, for months and that did not change their opposition to the proposed merger. These legal challenges to the proposed merger are moving forward with hearings beginning at the end of July and scheduled to go through September.”
Pierce County stores being sold to C&S
Safeway — 21301 Hwy 410, Bonney Lake
Albertsons — 11330 51st Ave NW, Gig Harbor
Safeway — 4831 Point Fosdick Dr NW, Gig Harbor
Safeway — 10105 224th St E, Graham
Safeway — 708 Shaw Rd, Puyallup
Safeway — 611 S Meridian, Puyallup
QFC — 11104 Pacific Ave S, Tacoma
QFC — 4101 49th Ave NE, Tacoma
Safeway — 1624 72nd St E, Tacoma
Safeway — 2637 N Pearl St, Tacoma
Safeway — 3842 Bridgeport Way, Tacoma
Click here to see the entire list of affected stores in Washington and the U.S.
