As Illinois and other states, along with the federal government, seek to block the merger of two giant grocery chains, shoppers may find a surplus of competition in their backyards.
Area supermarkets are upping their game amid the battle over the Albertsons and Kroger merger. For example, take the grand reopening of the recently remodeled Tony’s Fresh Market on North Lewis Avenue in Waukegan late last month.
Tony bought the old Super Fresh Market in 2021, redoing the store. Extensive interior and exterior renovations have been delayed, with the company unveiling the results of that renovation on August 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 company’s Tony Charitable Foundation which made a $5,000 donation to Beacon Place, a Waukegan-based nonprofit social service agency. Such community contributions from companies are often overlooked by those who call for higher taxes on companies.
“This store has been updated and redesigned to enhance the shopping experience and meet the needs of our local customers,” Tony’s CEO Frank Ingraffia 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 grouped 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 remember was once a Zayre. Further north on Lewis, on Yorkhouse Road, is a Jewel-Osco next to a Target.
Albertsons, parent of Jewel-Osco, and Kroger, owner of Mariano’s supermarkets, are looking to merge in what would be a $24.6 billion deal. If approved by regulatory agencies, it would be the largest food chain consolidation in US history.
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul earlier this year joined nine other states in filing with the Federal Trade Commission to block the merger. The government and states argue that the consolidation would eliminate competition, raise food prices at a time of rising food costs for consumers, impact shoppers with potential store closings and reduce the number of workers. .
Kroger officials maintain the Albertsons acquisition will lower prices and allow the combination to compete more effectively with retail stores such as Walmart/Sam’s Club and Amazon, which has increased its online grocery offerings and operates the Whole Foods supermarket chain, along with other store clubs. Walmart dominates about 22% of US grocery sales, according to the Associated Press, while Kroger and Albertsons combined control about 13%.
Cincinnati-based Kroger 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 — such as in Gurnee, where a Jewel and Mariano’s compete in the Grand-Hunt Club corridor — to C&S Wholesale Grocers, a supplier based in New Hampshire to independent. supermarkets that also own the Piggly Wiggly store brands.
Despite allegations that retailers would be at a disadvantage with a Kroger-Albertsons merger, it appears there are plenty of options for consumers in this corner of northeastern Illinois. Those choices may be increased with the rumored introduction of a Trader Joe’s in Gurnee at the site of a large shopping center beginning 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 block away on Grand, west of Hutchins.
Meanwhile, Aldi announced this week that it is 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 who work more than 30 hours a week in some places have access to health insurance, paid time off and more.
The German-based grocery chain doesn’t seem worried about competition from an Albertsons-Kroger merger. Neither do area supermarket shoppers, who have more than enough choices about where they spend their grocery dollars.
Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and publisher.
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