Albertsons says it plans to divest 10 Idaho stores in merger. Is yours on this list?

Kroger and Albertsons have released a list of all the stores they would sell to another company if federal regulators approve their plan to merge. The list includes 10 Albertsons stores in Idaho, six of which are in Boise — the city where the grocery chain was born 85 years ago.

Cincinnati-based Kroger, which operates the Fred Meyer chain in the Northwest, is trying to acquire Albertsons, the Boise-based chain founded by Joe Albertson in 1939. The companies say the merger will help them compete more effectively in the shifting grocery market, where they face competition from Walmart, Amazon, Boise’s WinCo Foods and other stores.

The merger is in trouble, as the Federal Trade Commission and multiple state attorneys general (but not Idaho’s) have sued to block it, citing antitrust concerns. The FTC’s case is working its way through a federal court.

If the companies win the fight, they would sell the 10 Albertsons Idaho stores and 569 other stores under assorted banners to C&S Wholesale Grocers LLC, a little-known business that has operated primarily as a wholesaler so far.

The list of Idaho stores

These are the Idaho stores set to go to C&S, by city:

Boise

• 10500 W. Overland Road

• 5100. W. Overland Road

• 909 E. Parkcenter Blvd.

• 4700 N. Eagle Road

• 6560 S. Federal Way

• 3614 W. State St.

Meridian

• 20 E. Fairview Ave.

Nampa

• 2400 12th Avenue Road

Pocatello

• 330 E. Benton St.

Twin Falls

• 1221 Addison Avenue E.

It wasn’t immediately known why these 10 stores were chosen, nor what names the Idaho stores would receive. Kroger’s deal assigns licensing rights to C&S for Albertsons-brand stores in California and Wyoming but not in Idaho. C&S operates two retail grocery chains: Piggly Wiggly in the South, Midwest and Northeast, and Grand Union in New York and Vermont.

A Statesman email to Albertsons on Tuesday requesting additional details was not returned, and calls to a company media line were not connected. C&S said Wednesday that it could not comment on the Statesman’s questions until the divestiture is complete.

Kroger and Albertsons originally said they would sell 13 Idaho Albertsons stores but reduced that to 10 in April.

Among the stores not on the divestiture list released Tuesday is the one at 16th and State streets in downtown Boise, the site of founder Joe Albertson’s original store in 1939.

Companies promise no closures, no front-line job losses

The companies have promised regulators, employees and the public that no divested stores will close, no “front-line” workers will lose their jobs, all collective-bargaining agreements will be honored, and all divested stores will continue to benefit from investment as a result of the merger.

They also promised to lower prices.

The Federal Trade Commission isn’t buying that last promise. The agency sued in February. The Idaho Statesman reported then that the FTC said Kroger’s acquisition, the largest proposed supermarket merger in U.S. history, would “eliminate fierce competition” between the two grocery giants and lead to higher prices for consumers.

Nine states, including Oregon and Nevada, joined the FTC’s lawsuit. Washington state and Colorado have filed their own lawsuits.

A union local that says it represents about 25,000 Kroger and Albertsons workers, including 265 in North Idaho, said the release of the store list “changes nothing.”

“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 United Food and Commercial Workers 3000 said in an email to the Statesman.

But a UFCW local that represents some Albertsons workers elsewhere in Idaho backs the merger. UFCW Local 555 said in February that its leaders were impressed by C&S’s management.

A major Idaho employer

Divesting those stores would reduce Albertsons’ Idaho footprint to 27 stores, a distribution center in Meridian and whatever is kept of its corporate headquarters operation in Boise.

Albertsons is Idaho’s fourth-largest employer, with more than 5,000 workers in the state, the Idaho Department of Labor reports. It is the biggest employer nationwide of any Idaho company, with a reported 285,000 workers.

C&S is owned by New Hampshire billionaire Rick Cohen, who is “the third generation of the Cohen family to lead the company,” according to a bio on C&S’s website. The company says it wants to expand its retail footprint.

“The purchase of these stores will enable C&S to be one of the leading grocery retailers in the United States,” spokesperson Lauren La Bruno said by email. “In order to ensure these stores continue to thrive, we also will be welcoming hundreds of highly skilled grocery retail veterans and tens of thousands of store associates from Kroger and Albertsons who are currently responsible for these stores.

“Their skill and knowledge, along with our leading wholesale and supply expertise, will undoubtedly ensure that these stores continue to successfully serve their communities for many generations to come. C&S acquiring these stores also will benefit store associates, customers, consumers, communities and our wholesale customers.”

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