FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For media inquiries, please contact: Reggie Rucker, ILSR Communications Director
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Oct. 14, 2022) – Stacy Mitchell, co-director at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, responded to Kroger’s proposed $24.6 billion acquisition of Albertsons with the following statement:
“Americans don’t need another mega-grocer. Kroger and Albertsons together would control nearly 20 percent of grocery sales in the U.S. That’s on par with Walmart, whose power in food retailing has done widespread damage to communities, farmers, food workers, and local grocers.”
“A merger of these two supermarket chains would result in two mega-retailers — Walmart and Kroger/Albertsons — controlling more than 70 percent of the grocery market in over 160 cities, an unprecedented and extremely dangerous level of concentration.
“It would also give Kroger and Albertsons even more muscle to strong-arm suppliers, extracting deals for themselves while forcing up costs for competing independent grocers. If it’s allowed to go through, this deal would almost certainly put more rural towns and Black and Latino neighborhoods in cities at risk of becoming ‘food deserts’ as more local grocers are driven out of business.
“And it would be bad news for America’s farmers and food production workers. For every dollar Americans spend on groceries, farmers are now receiving less than 15 cents, the smallest portion since the U.S. Department of Agriculture began tracking this data in 1993. Research also shows that, among food processors and packers, greater dependence on a small number of powerful corporate buyers leads to lower wages for workers.
“We do not need more places subject to this kind of concentration, with all its implications.”
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About the Institute for Local Self-Reliance
The Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) is a national nonprofit research and educational organization founded in 1974. ILSR has a vision of thriving, diverse, equitable communities. To reach this vision, we build local power to fight corporate control. We believe that democracy can only thrive when economic and political power is widely dispersed. Whether it’s fighting back against the outsize power of monopolies like Amazon or advocating to keep local renewable energy in the community that produced it, ILSR advocates for solutions that harness the power of citizens and communities. More at www.ilsr.org
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