When Albertsons announced the ASC acquisition in 1998, there was actually rumors that Kroger would merge with Safeway. In that scenario, I'm guessing Ahold, who wanted to go west at the time, would've probably bought Fred Meyer.storewanderer wrote: ↑February 24th, 2021, 11:06 pm Fred Meyer had a lot of different plans before Kroger merged it in.
Fred Meyer was going to build full size Fred Meyer format stores in Arizona. And I suspect they had other territories planned as well. Kroger was so against that they didn't open a fully built store.
Fred Meyer was expanding Ralphs into NorCal with that Albertsons/Lucky divest purchase. Kroger went along with that one but we see what they ultimately did with it.
I think the QFC, Ralphs, and Fred Meyer operation would have been much stronger and more dominant had Fred Meyer remained an independent company. I do think the affiliation with Kroger was a positive for Smiths. I don't think Smiths and Fred Meyer were a great fit really (geographically yes, but that is about where it stopped). However Smiths was a pretty good fit for Kroger.
I also think the affiliation with Fred Meyer was a positive for Kroger. Fred Meyer brought very strong general merchandise programs to Kroger as well as a strong natural foods program. Fred Meyer also brought various diverse private labels to Kroger (not only the general merchandise ones but also the Natural Choices, the Private Selection, the FMV, the Buena Comida) that supplemented Kroger's strong grocery but very "plain vanilla" private label program.
Fred Meyer also bought some Lucky/Albertsons stores along the Central Coast (including a Lucky under construction in Los Osos which opened as a Ralphs), as well as a 60's gable Albertsons in Laguna Beach. They also bought a Lucky in Santa Fe, NM; converted to a Smith's.
Vons bought some Ralphs/Hughes stores in South OC around that time too.
Did Fred Meyer ever consider building full-size stores down in SoCal ever?
They had land sites around Sacramento that they backed out of, a store in Chico which lasted a couple of years, and a land site in Redding which was sold to Walmart.
Then we have the mostly failed Smith's stores in MT/WY they bought from the Albertsons/Buttrey merger...