Texas, Louisiana Grocers Selling More Stores as Merger Hits Snag

Lafayette, LA (KPEL News) - Walmart, Costco, and Amazon have taken a serious bite out of the market for grocery stores across the country. To combat the pain, Kroger and Albertsons whose national footprint includes Louisiana and Texas announced plans to merge in October 2022. The deal is still hasn't closed because federal regulators haven't been satisfied with the number of stores they are selling off.

Albertsons operates 16 stores in Louisiana and 43 stores in Texas. They have been a popular grocery stop for years in Lafayette, Lake Charles, Shreveport and the other 4 cities in the Bayou State. Kroger has 203 Texas stores and 8 stores in 5 Louisiana cities: Lake Charles, Shreveport, Sulphur, Bossier City, and Alexandria. It would take a whole other article to list the Kroger locations in the Lone Star State.

As you can imagine, a $20-billion deal is complicated. Kroger planned to purchase Albertsons for that price and assume $4.7-billion in debt. The Federal Trade Commission said "not so fast" and sued to block the merger, concerned it would drive up prices for consumers.

Originally, Kroger and Albertsons planned to sell about 400 of their stores to another grocer. The FTC decided that wasn't enough, so they now plan to sell 579 locations. No details on which stores that would include, nor if they would be in Louisiana or Texas.

The great grocery shuffle doesn't stop with Kroger and Albertsons. Aldi announced last year plans to buy 400 Winn-Dixie stores, along with Harveys supermarkets. That deal is expected to close sometime this year.

Meanwhile, the Kroger/Albertsons merger was expected the deal to be wrapped up earlier this year, but that obviously hasn't happened yet. As for which stores will close, the company says that announcement won't be made until the sale is imminent. Will Lafayette still have 3 Albertsons? Are both of the Lake Charles stores or the Shreveport store be shuttered?

Hopefully, the FTC gives the nod to the revised merger plan so we have those answers soon.