Kroger to Buy Albertsons

[T.O.M.]

My local (E. Tenn) Kroger carries them.

Mine carries a few.  Honestly, haven't paid attention much.  Haven't bought a gun magazine in 20+ years.

[JN01]

Mine carries a few.  Honestly, haven't paid attention much.  Haven't bought a gun magazine in 20+ years.

I haven't bought any in a long time either.  I will occasionally leaf through them if I have to wait for the pharmacy to fill a script.

Speaking of scripts, Kroger has a great prescription savings club, I think it is $39/year.  With it, drugs cost less than with my health insurance plan.

[230RN]

My Kroger/ King Soopers store has also been a little spotty on shelf stock, too, but not bad.  The only reason I shop there is that it's smack-dab on the way to my POB.

They had some trouble a while ago with theft of their electric handicapped carts and that was a royal pain in the butt, but they got that squared away.  I think they installed the same kind of parking-lot limiting system they have for the regular shopping carts to prevent swipage.

I knew a guy back in about 2000 CE who made substantial beer money by driving around and picking up stray shopping carts that people would use to just get their groceries home --a more or less justifiable reason for taking them and i guess it was just "understood" that was sorta OK.  I seem to remember he made $1.50 for every cart he rescued.  That business has been obsoleted by the parking lot limiters nowadays.

I've seen gun mags there, but I get The Rifleman for free and 2A current events on a daily basis off the net.

[JTHunter]

AFAIK, the nearest Kroger is about 30 miles east of me and it is a relatively small store, just like the town where it is located.
In this area, the two main regional chains are Schnuck's and Dierberg's but we also have two discounters, German-owned Aldi and Kroger-owned Ruler.  However, thanks to inflation (and possibly gouging/collusion), NEITHER Ruler or Aldi's prices are very good any more.   

[Ben]

I knew a guy back in about 2000 CE who made substantial beer money by driving around and picking up stray shopping carts that people would use to just get their groceries home --a more or less justifiable reason for taking them and i guess it was just "understood" that was sorta OK.  I seem to remember he made $1.50 for every cart he rescued.  That business has been obsoleted by the parking lot limiters nowadays.

I thought you lived in Colorado, not Canada.

https://youtu.be/-l0KNCzb88Q

[RocketMan]

I miss Freddies.  Being a PNW chain, they don't have them in NC, obviously.  Used to buy 50 round boxes of 30 carbine at the Cornelius, OR Fred Meyer for $12.  Thems was the good ole days of reasonably priced ammo.

[K Frame]

I'm in DC Metro. Looks like the closest Krogers to me are in Richmond. Not going to Richmond to shop.

But, something I did NOT realize until just a few moments ago...

Harris Teeter groceries, which I have always liked, have been under the Kroger umbrella since 2014.

I literally had no clue. So, I guess I shopped at a Kroger a few weeks ago, then. It was just branded as a Harris Teeter.

[RocketMan]

There is supposedly a Harris Teeter going to open here in Hickory fairly soon.  The boss and I plan to check them out.
Piggly Wiggly just took over the small, local Galaxy grocery chain.  There's one just a few miles away we need to check.  The Galaxy store used to be kind of run down.  I'm wondering if the Piggly Wiggly folks spiffed the place up at all.

[MillCreek]

I miss Freddies.  Being a PNW chain, they don't have them in NC, obviously.  Used to buy 50 round boxes of 30 carbine at the Cornelius, OR Fred Meyer for $12.  Thems was the good ole days of reasonably priced ammo.

As far as I know, Fred Meyer no longer sells any firearms or ammunition; at least I don't see it anymore at the stores in this area.  I bought a Ruger LCR a few years back at an excellent sale from the Fred Meyer in Monroe, WA.

[MillCreek]

https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/17/business/kroger-albertsons-merger-groceries/index.html

I see the argument about how a merger will produce efficiencies of scale and cost savings will result in lower prices to consumers. The same argument is made when health systems merge, and it almost always results in higher prices to the patients due to decreased competition; so color me skeptical that a grocery merger will result in lower prices.

[Boomhauer]

There is supposedly a Harris Teeter going to open here in Hickory fairly soon.  The boss and I plan to check them out.
Piggly Wiggly just took over the small, local Galaxy grocery chain.  There's one just a few miles away we need to check.  The Galaxy store used to be kind of run down.  I'm wondering if the Piggly Wiggly folks spiffed the place up at all.

Harris Teeter is a fancyish grocery store. The one here has a live band. No, don’t ask me why a grocery store has a live band. I’m not the sophisticated shopper they apparently want.

Lowes Foods is also a very good grocery store also not cheap but good meats, deli, and premade.

[RocketMan]

Lowes Foods is also a very good grocery store also not cheap but good meats, deli, and premade.

The Lowes around here have a great beer section.  You can even sit at a small bar and enjoy draft beer or wine by the glass.

[MillCreek]

The Lowes around here have a great beer section.  You can even sit at a small bar and enjoy draft beer or wine by the glass.

I have often said that if Target put in a bar, they would clean up.  I know I would be happier to accompany the wife there if I could sit and have a good beer while she shops.

[sumpnz]

I have often said that if Target put in a bar, they would clean up.  I know I would be happier to accompany the wife there if I could sit and have a good beer while she shops.

Had malls done this 15 years ago they might still be a viable business model.

[charby]

Had malls done this 15 years ago they might still be a viable business model.

Almost every midwest mall had at least one bar and grill in them during the heyday of malls. Didn't save them, the mostly vacant mall where I live has a popular sports bar in it.

[K Frame]

Almost every midwest mall had at least one bar and grill in them during the heyday of malls. Didn't save them, the mostly vacant mall where I live has a popular sports bar in it.

Bingo.

When I moved to DC metro in 1990 there were a couple of really happening malls -- Fair Oaks, Tysons Corners, Springfield, and Potomac Mills -- within easy driving distance of where we lived in DC and later in Virginia.

Of those, Springfield mall is gone, remodeled/replaced by a town center concept. The others are in varying stages of relevance.

I can't remember when I last set foot in a mall; it's been maybe 5 or so years and for dinner with friends, not shopping.

But, even back then, casual dining restaurants with bars were very much a part of all of those malls. I think Tysons even has a brew pub in the mall, now.

I will admit, I still get nostalgic when I think of malls in the 1980s.

[sumpnz]

As a kid in the 80’s going into a mall usually meant school clothes shopping with my mom and sister.  I’d get a headache within 20’ of walking inside.

[K Frame]

Yeah, there was definitely that. But, also, my Mom was doing the antique show circuit, and in those days that meant a lot of setting up in the concourses of the various malls and sitting there for hours hoping someone would buy the stuff so you didn't have to load it back in the car.

Fortunately, by the time the Reagan '80s were in full swing I was driving and I was able to visit the malls on my own terms, often with my friends, to hit the movies and the video arcades. That's also around the time that I started building my tool collection, and that meant Sears Craftsman. I spent a TON of time cruising the tool aisles in a bunch of Sears stores in Central Pennsylvania. I still miss the smells -- that rich oily smell from the coatings on the tools, that sharp, tangy smell from the plastic used on the screwdriver handles -- and the sound of sockets and wrenches clanking together... all of that's gone now, and I get really nostalgic when I think about those days.