Kroger-Albertsons Divestiture Fight Heads Into Discovery Deep Dive

By Marcus Bennett

Delaware's Chancery Court wants Kroger and Albertsons to hand over reams of records explaining how a merger strategy collapsed into mutual blame. Vice Chancellor Lori W. Will, presiding over the case, is seeking documents that could illuminate how the two grocers handled the delicate task of crafting and presenting a divestiture plan to the Federal Trade Commission, according to BoiseDev.

The request matters because the trial's outcome may come down to which company's post-trial briefs offer more compelling evidence that its opponent bungled the critical back-and-forth — with regulators and with each other. That's a lot of weight to place on paper arguments rather than live testimony.

What did the trial already reveal?

The two-week trial concluded last month over Albertsons' claim that Kroger is responsible for the merger's demise. The companies hoped to build the nation's largest supermarket company; instead, they've spent the aftermath sparring over why they didn't try harder to unload stores to satisfy antitrust regulators.

On the trial's first day, former Albertsons CEO Vivek Sankaran testified that Kroger — which had taken the lead in hammering out the divestiture plan — initially offered to sell far fewer stores than the maximum number the companies had agreed they'd be willing to unload to push the deal through. As Bloomberg Law observed, Kroger had calculated that a lowball figure would be enough, even as Albertsons felt the companies should have presented a more robust divestiture plan right away.

The vice chancellor apparently wants a lot more information about how the would-be partners wound up on separate paths almost as soon as they agreed to merge. Their completely different accounts of how the divestiture strategy came — or didn't come — together remain a central issue for the court to sort out. In plain terms: the judge doesn't yet buy either company's story at face value.

Schnucks locks in prices through 2027

Midwest chain Schnucks announced Wednesday that it is extending its "Deals for Weeks" campaign into 2027. The initiative, launched in February, locks in prices for "high-demand, seasonally relevant" items in eight- to nine-week cycles, the grocer said.

Across four promotional cycles so far, the program has featured savings on nearly 2,700 items and prompted strong sales and volume growth in participating categories, according to Schnucks. The company credits the program; skeptics will note "strong growth" here is the grocer's own characterization, not an audited figure.

Ahold Delhaize USA upgrades checkout tech

Ahold Delhaize USA has begun a multi-year rollout of new point-of-sale technology, live now in 100 stores. The company said the change is part of a broader effort to modernize store capabilities, building on recent moves like its proprietary retail media ad platform. No timeline or store-count target for the full rollout was disclosed — a notable omission for a "multi-year" commitment.

H Mart doubles down on Texas

Asian grocer H Mart detailed plans this week to open two Texas stores: one in Haltom City, another in Sugarland. The Haltom City location will feature a food hall with seven vendors, including traditional Korean food and French Asian baked goods. The Sugarland store will offer 11 vendors serving Korean street food and Vietnamese cuisine.

Sugarland opens Nov. 19. H Mart did not list an opening date for Haltom City — so that location's timing remains an open question.

Can AI plan your Thanksgiving?

Kroger is encouraging customers to use its AI shopping assistant to plan holiday dinners, the grocer announced this week. The company says the technology can simplify shopping trips and customize menus to reflect the size of a gathering, with offerings "centered on convenience, flexible feast sizes and effortless meal planning."

Kroger claims its AI-powered tools can eliminate "holiday kitchen stress." Maybe. The technology has a documented tendency to make things up, and Kroger is betting that this Thanksgiving it enhances the holiday rather than turning it into just another digital chore. That bet — computer-driven assistants moving out of the experimental realm and into the year's biggest food-shopping occasion — says as much about where retail AI is headed as any pilot program could.