🛒 Kroger-Albertsons Merger: Northeast Impact

[submariner]

A place to discuss the impact of the Kroger-Albertsons merger, specifically on the northeast region.

[marketreportblog]

There's been some talk of pricing at Albertsons stores on some of the other forums, so here's a somewhat random and thoroughly unscientific look at prices on a selection of 10 items in my area of New Jersey, with prices at ACME and Kings owned by Albertsons, compared to a couple other places I regularly shop: Food Bazaar, local chain with 30 or so locations; Foodtown, coop has around 100 locations; and ShopRite, coop has around 400 locations. I have no idea what biases or whatnot might be present here, so like I said, not exactly scientific, but here you go:

Large White Eggs Dozen, cheapest

• Food Bazaar $2.19

• Foodtown $2.99

• ShopRite $1.89

• ACME $1.79

• Kings $4.69

Wax Paper, 75 square foot Reynold's

• Food Bazaar $3.09

• Foodtown $2.49

• ShopRite $2.39

• ACME $3.29

• Kings $3.29

Gala Apples, lb

• Food Bazaar $0.99

• Foodtown $0.99

• ShopRite $1.00

• ACME $2.49

• Kings $2.99

Strawberries, lb

• Food Bazaar $3.99

• Foodtown $2.50

• ShopRite $3.99

• ACME $2.99

• Kings $8.99

Progresso Soup Can Traditional

• Food Bazaar $3.50

• Foodtown $4.19

• ShopRite $3.99

• ACME $2.99

• Kings $4.49

Goya 15.5oz can Black Beans

• Food Bazaar $1.40

• Foodtown $1.69

• ShopRite $1.39

• ACME $1.50

• Kings $1.79

Premium Orange Juice, Storebrand or Cheapest

• Food Bazaar $3.50

• Foodtown $3.50

• ShopRite $2.99

• ACME $3.00

• Kings $4.49

Atlantic Salmon, Farm Raised, Cheapest, lb

• Food Bazaar $9.99

• Foodtown $8.99

• ShopRite $9.99

• ACME $11.49

• Kings $17.99

Cream Cheese, 8oz Bar

• Food Bazaar $3.69

• Foodtown $2.69

• ShopRite $1.50

• ACME $2.59

• Kings $2.69

Dried Oregano, Storebrand or Cheapest

• Food Bazaar $3.19 for 4oz

• Foodtown $1.59 for 0.87 oz

• ShopRite $3.49 for 0.75oz

• ACME $2.99 for 0.75oz

• Kings $5.29 for 0.6oz

Total Basket Cost

• Food Bazaar $35.53

• Foodtown $31.62

• ShopRite $32.62

• ACME $35.12

• Kings $56.70

• Average $38.32

[retailfanmitchell019]

I’m surprised how competitive Acme is on price in North Jersey.

Assuming the merger doesn’t go through, I still expect Acme to be sold to Kroger along with Shaw’s/Star Market. Kroger has wanted to be in the Northeast for a while, and these are slower performing divisions for Albertsons. Shaw’s/Star Market is down to 3rd place in Greater Boston, as Market Basket has gained a ton of share due to inflation.
In 2010, when Supervalu was rumored to be for sale, Kroger might’ve considered purchasing Acme.

[storewanderer]

Item by item the Acme pricing is not necessarily good. It isn't clear what items are sale prices and what aren't.

When you get into PA and you look at Giant-PA pricing vs. Acme pricing, Acme pricing is mostly quite a bit higher, but they have some good specials to help buffer that somewhat.

I actually think the pricing spread between Giant-PA and Acme is greater than the price spread between Giant-MD and Safeway East. But I think Giant-PA runs a far superior store to all of those chains in terms of product mix, and also just so happens to have the best prices.

[marketreportblog]

Alright, here we go with Version 2.0 of the price comparison. Here's a much more extensive comparison using 20 products across 14 stores, pricing collected from online but only when I could confirm it's the same as in-store. Substitutions are marked in blue, sale items are marked in red. ACME comes in roughly the middle of the pack with only one store beating Kings for the highest price. Again, not the most scientific but I think it gives an idea...
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

[mbz321]

Strawberries, lb

• Food Bazaar $3.99

• Foodtown $2.50

• ShopRite $3.99

• ACME $2.99

• Kings $8.99

Wtf is King's putting in those strawberries? Diamonds?

[mbz321]

Alright, here we go with Version 2.0 of the price comparison. Here's a much more extensive comparison using 20 products across 14 stores, pricing collected from online but only when I could confirm it's the same as in-store. Substitutions are marked in blue, sale items are marked in red. ACME comes in roughly the middle of the pack with only one store beating Kings for the highest price. Again, not the most scientific but I think it gives an idea...
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

Very interesting findings, and am also a bit surprised about Weis. Here in Southeastern PA, their pricing seems to be a bit higher overall than Giant and ShopRite (not nearly as high as Acme or Wegmans though).

[marketreportblog]

Wtf is King's putting in those strawberries? Diamonds?

A few weeks ago, I went from SuperFresh in Middlesex, NJ, which was selling the one-pound boxes of strawberries 3 for $5, to the Kings in Bedminster, NJ, where the same exact Driscoll's strawberries were being sold for a "sale price" of $7.99 per pound box. The ones at Kings were a little overripe too!

Anyway, looking forward, I think it's possible -- especially if Albertsons and Kroger merge -- Kings could be disposed of, in some way. What does Kroger want with a chain of insanely overpriced pseudo-gourmet markets of 20,000 square feet? I mean sure, there are some great locations and some larger than that, but that just doesn't strike me as the type of store Kroger can (or does) run. We're packed with a lot of chains here, so I'm sure it would be easy enough to find a buyer if the stores went up for sale. And if they closed, I doubt most would be vacant long.

[BillyGr]

Very interesting findings, and am also a bit surprised about Weis. Here in Southeastern PA, their pricing seems to be a bit higher overall than Giant and ShopRite (not nearly as high as Acme or Wegmans though).

Maybe due to not having a huge presence in NJ, and trying to find a way to get people's attention? I only remember the story of one of their stores that was badly located, didn't do well, closed and then became a ShopRite which did just fine, simply because people in NJ know ShopRite and will seek them out, while they didn't with a lesser known name like Weis.

[marketreportblog]

Maybe due to not having a huge presence in NJ, and trying to find a way to get people's attention? I only remember the story of one of their stores that was badly located, didn't do well, closed and then became a ShopRite which did just fine, simply because people in NJ know ShopRite and will seek them out, while they didn't with a lesser known name like Weis.

And the most interesting thing about that story is that Weis took over an A&P across the street from their old store. I don't know how they're doing, but they've been there for almost 10 years so it can't be a complete failure. That's in Flanders, where ShopRite and Weis are the only two stores for a bit of a distance around.