As Illinois and other states, along with the federal government, seek to block the merger of two giant grocery chains, shoppers can find a surplus of competition in their backyards.
Area supermarkets are upping their game in the midst of the battle over the melding of Albertsons and Kroger. For instance, take the grand reopening of the newly remodeled Tony’s Fresh Market on North Lewis Avenue in Waukegan late last month.
Tony’s acquired the old Super Fresh Market in 2021, remaking the store. Extensive interior and exterior renovations were overdue, with the company unveiling the results of that makeover on Aug. 28.
Tony’s Fresh Market says it is the largest, independent grocery chain in the Chicago region by volume with 21 stores, including one in Round Lake Beach at Rollins Road and Route 83. The group was founded in 1979 by two Italian immigrants.
Included in the grand reopening was the firm’s Tony’s Charitable Foundation making a $5,000 donation to non-profit Beacon Place, a social service agency based in Waukegan. Such community contributions from companies often are overlooked by those who call for higher taxes on businesses.
“This store was updated and redesigned to enhance the shopping experience and meet the needs of our local customers,” Frank Ingraffia, Tony’s chief executive officer, said in a statement. “This investment demonstrates our commitment to the Waukegan community.”
North Lewis Avenue has become Waukegan’s grocery row, with an Aldi and Lewis Fresh Market clustered together. Once, there was a Kroger, which became a Dominick’s across the street in the Lewis Shopping Mall. There used to be a Save-A-Lot on South Lewis Avenue at Belvidere Street, where the location now sits vacant.
Lewis Fresh Market also has a large store on Grand Avenue, west of McAree Road, in what some Waukegan old-timers may recall once was a Zayre. Further north on Lewis, at Yorkhouse Road, is a Jewel-Osco next to a Target.
Jewel-Osco parent Albertsons and Kroger, owner of Mariano’s supermarkets, are seeking to merge in what would be a $24.6 billion deal. If approved by regulatory agencies, it would be the largest grocery chain consolidation in U.S. history.
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul earlier this year joined nine other states in siding with the Federal Trade Commission to stymie the merger. The government and states contend the consolidation would eliminate competition, raise grocery prices at a time of rising food costs for consumers, impact shoppers with potential store closures and reduce the number of workers.
Kroger officials maintain the buyout of Albertsons would lower prices and allow the combination to more effectively compete with retail behemoths like Walmart/Sam’s Club and Amazon, which has increased its online grocery offerings and operates the Whole Foods supermarket chain, along with other warehouse clubs. Walmart dominates around 22% of U.S. grocery sales, according to The Associated Press, while a combined Kroger and Albertsons would control around 13%.
Kroger, based in Cincinnati, operates 2,800 stores in 35 states; Albertsons, headquartered in Boise, Idaho, has 2,273 stores in 34 states. The companies compete in 22 states, and employ 710,000 people.
Under the proposed consolidation, the once rivals would sell 579 stores in places where their locations overlap — like in Gurnee, where a Jewel and Mariano’s compete in the Grand-Hunt Club corridor — to C&S Wholesale Grocers, a New Hampshire-based supplier to independent supermarkets which also owns Piggly Wiggly store brands.
Despite allegations grocery shoppers will be at a disadvantage with a Kroger-Albertsons merger, there seem to be plenty of options for consumers in this corner of northeast Illinois. Those choices may be increased with the rumored introduction of a Trader Joe’s in Gurnee at the site of a large strip mall just starting construction on Grand Avenue, east of Hutchins Road.
The California-based chain also has outlets in Libertyville and Lake Zurich. There is an Aldi about a long block away on Grand, west of Hutchins.
Meanwhile, Aldi announced this week it’s looking to hire more than 13,000 workers as it prepares for the upcoming holiday season. The new starting wage for store employees will be $18 an hour. Those working more than 30 hours a week in some locations will have access to health insurance, paid time off and more.
The German-based grocery chain doesn’t seem to be worried about competition from an Albertsons-Kroger merger. Neither should area supermarket shoppers, who have more than enough choices on where to spend their food dollars.
Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor.
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