Checking in on antitrust review of Kroger and Albertson’s proposed merger, one year later.
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Grocers want to cash in on their troves of shopper data by selling more targeted ad spots online and in-store. But the largest grocers and food brands are poised to make the most money and sales off this growing trend.
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Walmart will source beef for its new case-ready beef plant in Kansas from Sustainable Beef, a rancher-owned packing plant in which Walmart has a minority stake. Founders say this is the future, other ranchers say its the end of competitive price discovery.
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A merged Kroger/Albertsons empire could supercharge store closures, layoffs, price gouging, and supplier squeezing, further harming shoppers, workers, farmers, and independent grocers.
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A trade association for independent grocers calls on Congress to revise and enforce a law banning price discrimination that antitrust enforcers have put on the shelf.
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Baldwin, Florida, a town of roughly 1,600 residents west of Jacksonville, lost its last grocery store in 2018. Residents were left with a Dollar General and a 10-mile drive to the nearest full-service store. The town council couldn’t attract another grocery chain to take over the store, but they did own the property. So the council and Baldwin Mayor Sean Lynch decided the town would get in the grocery business and re-opened the store.
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Walmart sells 50 percent or more of all groceries in one in every ten metropolitan areas and nearly one in three “micropolitan” areas across the country, according to a report by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, out last week. In 38 of these regions, Walmart sells 70 percent or more of all groceries.
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European grocery chains are driving a new round of concentration in American food retail, as they race to buy up independent grocers or drive them out of business. In the most recent deal, Stop & Shop, a subsidiary of Dutch-based Ahold-Delhaize, announced it will acquire Long Island supermarket chain, King Kullen, America’s first-ever supermarket.
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McLane Distributors, a subsidiary of multinational conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, is suing to overturn a Texas regulation that prevents monopolization in the liquor industry. The company, which serves numerous retailers, is seeking a wine distribution license. But because their owner, Warren Buffett, is also invested in Walmart, which sells beer and wine in the state, the license would violate state regulations designed to prevent concentration of power in the alcohol sector.
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The latest in a series of mergers that are remaking the business of farm credit in America will, in early July, bring together three lenders in the upper Midwest, AgStar Financial Services, Badgerland Financial, and 1st Farm Credit Services. The new Wisconsin-based institution, to be called Compeer Financial, will hold over $18 billion in assets and will be the country’s third-largest farm credit association.
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