Ridgecrest Albertsons sold through course of Kroger merger

One of Rio Rancho's Albertsons will be sold and will become part of the C&S brand.

The Ridgecrest Albertsons location is one of nine Albertsons stores being sold due to the Albertsons-Kroger merger which was announced October 2022.

The merger has drawn the ire of some local officials. New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver signed a letter last fall to urge regulators to reject the plan.

Attorney General Raúl Torrez joined a federal lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission alleging the merger would essentially constitute a monopoly. Torrez warned that the merger could increase food prices for consumers, although the companies have disputed that.

Litigation is ongoing, said New Mexico Department of Justice communications director Lauren Rodriguez, but an administrative hearing before a FTC judge is set for later this month, and a hearing for a preliminary injunction will be heard in federal court in August.

"We are bringing together two purpose-driven organizations to deliver superior value to customers, associates, communities and shareholders," Rodney McMullen, Kroger chairman and chief executive officer, said at the announcement of the merger.

McMullen will continue serving as chairman and CEO of the combined company.

Because the federal government and other entities weren't happy with the first divestiture plan, saying it took competition away, the company will sell many Albertsons and Safeway locations in the nation.

"The updated divestiture package increases the total store count by 166 to include 579 stores that will be sold to, and continue operating as they do today by the new owner, C&S," it reads in a release.

This agreement is to sell stores with certain banners to C&S, a wholesale company.

Kroger and Albertsons clarified that none of the stores sold will close and instead be re-bannered. However, the company does not specify what specifically will happen to each sold location.

C&S's main store banner is Piggly Wiggly, a supermarket chain out of Tennessee. The store chain is known as one of the first true self-service grocery stores in the country and has been around for 108 years.

Rodriguez said the proposed sales don’t address the problems the office is raising in the lawsuit.

“The proposed divestiture does not alleviate the anticompetitive harms that will occur if the merger is allowed to proceed, particularly in markets — including Santa Fe — where Kroger and Albertsons compete but the divestiture plan fails to address,” Rodriguez said in an email to the Journal.

No store locations in Santa Fe are expected to be sold.

She added that C&S’s business model — mainly wholesale — does not set it up for success in taking over the off-loaded stores.

“There is a high likelihood of the divested stores failing,” Rodriguez said. “If that happens, consumers and workers will bear the costs, not Kroger or Albertsons.”

The Albertsons Market Street will not be affected by the merger. Additionally, the Albertsons in Enchanted Hills will remain an Albertsons.

New Mexico Albertsons has been contacted for clarification on the Rio Rancho store's fate, but the Observer has not heard back.

— Alaina Mencinger of the Albuquerque Journal contributed to this report.