While Alaska Attorney General Tregarrick Taylor is occupied elsewhere polishing his right-wing political image, he should take note of an important disclosure in the Washington state lawsuit against the Kroger-Albertsons case that relates to his state job.

The disclosure adds weight to the notion that pledges to keep Alaska stores open after the merger are meaningless and serves as a warning.

Here is the lawsuit that has escaped the attention of the Alaska Department of Law.

“Do we have to say that we won’t close stores?” Bob Palmer, now the former CEO of New Hampshire-based C&S Wholesale, asked about the 413 stores nationwide his company would buy as part of a Kroger divestiture.

Kroger owns Fred Meyer and Albertsons owns Safeway. Kroger says that 14 unidentified stores in Alaska would be sold to C&S Wholesale as part of the deal. Selling the Alaska stores to a third party is supposed to ensure competition, according to the grocery giants.

In this case, the Alaska divestiture is more likely an intermediate step to closure.

The Seattle Times reported that Palmer’s thoughts about the fate of all the 413 stores nationwide were mentioned in now unredacted portions of the Washington lawsuit against the merger. Palmer said that it would be a problem to say “all” the stores would remain open.

“In the passage, Palmer appears to concede that the stores will ‘stay open’ during the sales process, ‘but then what?’ he asks,” the Seattle Times reported.

“Are we committed to this?”

The answer is no.

Kroger, which wants to acquire Albertsons, says it needs a merger to become larger and be better able to compete. No one should expect that the 14 Alaska stores to be sold to the smaller company would be long for this world. Kroger has not identified the 14 stores.

If the merger goes through, there will be store closures in Alaska. No one knows how many.

C&S Wholesale Grocers, which is mainly in the wholesale business, would be taking over 413 stores across the country. Alaska would not be a company focus and those 14 stores would not last long.

Similar questions about longevity exist about all the stores where Safeway and Carrs now offer some competition to Fred Meyer across Alaska. Those stores will not be around for the long run because the company will have a business incentive to consolidate.

Kroger says it would not close any stores “as a result of the merger.” Don’t take that to mean that all stores will remain open in the months and years after the merger.

As I wrote here in late 2022, the claim that the merger will lead to more choices, higher employee wages and lower costs for consumers is laughable for Alaskans.

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