Major grocery chain changes to over 100 Washington State stores?

Ed. Note: Clarification to the original article has been added with an official statement from Kroger. 

It looks like there may be a major change in how some of us get our groceries in Washington state in 2024. We all have a favorite grocery store. I go to Winco, you go to Walmart, my neighbor down the street goes to Safeway. You've probably memorized the layout of your store. You know exactly where everything is. It's comforting. 

Many favorite Washington state grocery stores are going to be changing ownership. Here is what's going on. 

Kroger and Albertsons merger

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In 2023, Kroger and Albertsons announced a merger.

According to MSN,

People love Kroger and Albertsons because the stores’ selections and low prices make it easy to save on everyday groceries .
However, the two chains have agreed on a merger, resulting in complications that could mean your local store getting a makeover. The merger will not close until after January 17, 2024.

 

The article went on to say:

Kroger and Albertsons are trying to get final approval for a merger, but there are some changes they need to make first. The two chains have agreed to offload more than 400 of their stores as well as other assets to comply with trade regulations so the federal government can approve the merger.

Kroger and Albertsons recently agreed to sell these stores to C&S; Wholesale Grocers, a major grocery wholesaler that owns Piggly Wiggly stores. Your local Kroger or Albertsons could be part of this sale.

Here in Washington state, we will probably see the biggest change because of the agreement with 104 stores being sold by Kroger and Albertsons. 

Kroger has clarified how this will affect stores:

Newsbreak.com says,
“Kroger, which is headquartered in Cincinnati, currently has 117 locations in Washington state, while Albertsons has 16 locations there.” 

Will that mean that we're going to see Piggly Wiggly back in Washington state? Currently there are no Piggly Wiggly locations In the Western United States.

We will have to wait and see if that changes. 

When I think about it, there is something fun about saying "I'm going down to the Piggly Wiggly."