Kroger and Safeway parent company would close almost 600 stores as part of merger

Kroger and Albertsons are set to close almost 600 stores as part of a proposed merger.

Should the merger go through, multiple states will experience closures within the double digits , and there would be even more in Washington and Arizona , with 124 and 101 closures, respectively. There would be 63 closures in California , meanwhile, and 91 in Colorado.

Employees at these closed locations would transfer their employment to C&S Wholesale Grocers, the owner of the Piggly Wiggly grocery brand. The employees transferring would have their pay and health benefits carried over with them.

The number of closures with this proposed $24.6 billion merger would be 579. The initial proposed closures would have been 413, though both Kroger and Albertsons, which have almost 5,000 locations combined, have since agreed to sell stores to C&S after their merger was blocked by the Federal Trade Commission.

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The FTC sued to block the merger earlier this year , arguing it would create less competition between brands, which in turn could lead to reduced product quality and increased prices. The merger, the FTC claimed, could also be harmful for employees wanting higher pay and other benefits.

Kroger and Albertsons have contended that the merger is necessary for the two to compete with larger grocery chains, such as Walmart and Costco. The two grocery companies have also vowed to invest $500 million to cut prices and $1 billion to increase the pay and benefits of employees.