Kroger and Albertsons plan to merge into the nation's largest supermarket chain

Kroger grocery store photo
(Image credit: Brandon Bell / Staff/ Getty Images)

Kroger announced Friday that it plans to purchase Albertsons for nearly $25 billion in a merger that would combine the two largest supermarket chains in the U.S., CNN reports.

Kroger is the largest supermarket operator in the country, counting chains Ralphs, Harris Teeter, Fred Meyer, and King Soopers in its over 2,700 stores. Albertsons is the second largest grocery operator with nearly 2,300 stores, including Safeway and Vons, NPR reports. The companies have a combined 710,000 workers who are mostly unionized and make more than $200 billion in sales, per CNN.

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Theara Coleman, The Week US

Theara Coleman has worked as a staff writer at The Week since September 2022. She frequently writes about technology, education, literature and general news. She was previously a contributing writer and assistant editor at Honeysuckle Magazine, where she covered racial politics and cannabis industry news.