A three-week court hearing opened Monday over the planned merger between grocery giants Kroger and Albertsons – a union that regulators argue would eliminate competition and raise grocery prices in a time of already high food price inflation.
On Monday, Albertsons, the parent company of Jewel-Osco, told a federal judge that it might have to lay off workers, close stores and even exit some markets if the merger isn’t permitted to move forward.
Albertsons and Kroger, the parent of Chicago-area retailer Mariano’s, proposed what would be the largest supermarket merger in U.S. history in October 2022. But the Federal Trade Commission sued to prevent the $24.6 billion deal. The FTC is seeking a preliminary injunction that would block the merger while its complaint goes before an in-house administrative law judge.
As NBC Chicago reported in July, nearly three-dozen grocery stores in Illinois are being sold to another operator as Kroger and Albertsons continue pursuing the massive merger. The companies agreed to sell nearly 600 stores to C & S in April.
The divestment sale is meant to convince regulators to allow the merger to move forward, though the lawsuit by the FTC remains ongoing.
The stores that will be part of the divestment sale will not close, according to the companies, and existing collective bargaining agreements would still be honored under the arrangement.
Here is the full list of the 35 Illinois stores impacted by the sale:
Jewel-Osco Locations:
- 12001 South Pulaski Road, Alsip
- 87 West 87th Street, Chicago
- 1537 North Larkin Avenue, Joliet
- 12803 South Harlem Avenue, Palos Heights
Mariano’s Locations:
- 802 East Northwest Highway, Arlington Heights
- 144 South Gary Avenue, Bloomingdale
- 3350 North Western Avenue, Chicago
- 5353 North Elston Avenue, Chicago
- 1800 West Lawrence Avenue, Chicago
- 5201 North Sheridan Road, Chicago
- 1500 North Clybourn Avenue Suite 104, Chicago
- 3857 South Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, Chicago
- 105 Northwest highway, Crystal Lake
- 2999 Waukegan Road, Deerfield
- 10 East Golf Road, Des Plaines
- 678 North York Street, Elmhurst
- 21001 South LaGrange Road, Frankfort
- 6655 Grand Avenue, Gurnee
- 1350 East Route 22, Lake Zurich
- 345 West Roosevelt Avenue, Lombard
- 1300 South Naper Boulevard, Naperville
- 784 Skokie Boulevard, Northbrook
- 11000 South Cicero Avenue, Oak Lawn
- 545 North Hicks Road, Palatine
- 1900 South Cumberland Avenue, Park Ridge
- 3358 West Touhy Avenue, Skokie
- 1720 North Milwaukee Avenue, Vernon Hills
- 3020 Wolf Road, Westchester
- 4700 Gilbert Avenue, Western Springs
- 150 West 63rd Street, Westmont
- 625 South Main Street, Wheaton
- 1822 Willow Road, Winnetka
Albertsons currently operates 188 Jewel-Osco locations in Illinois, Indiana and Iowa, while Kroger operates an unspecified number of locations in Illinois under its own banner.