It will be some time before U.S. District Judge, Adrienne Nelson, renders a decision on whether the merger will proceed, based on the extent of testimony offered by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and rebuttal by attorneys for Kroger.

Knowledgeable observers maintain that the FTC made a strong case that the proposed merger would eliminate competition in many areas.  In many markets, especially in western states, the combination of Kroger and Albertson’s would dominate to the potential disadvantage of both suppliers and consumers.  The FTC may have convinced the Court that brick-and-mortar chains such as Aldi and the dollar stores and also Amazon as an on-line retailer were not in direct competition in many markets with the large pure-play grocers such as Albertsons and Kroger.

The demise of Haggen in 2015 following acquisition of divested stores from the Albertsons-Safeway merger raised the question of the viability of C&S Wholesalers operating 579 stores and DCs.  Failure of the proposed alternative would effectively eliminate competition.

Even with an adverse decision, Kroger has so much invested in the proposed merger that an appeal against the preliminary injunction will be inevitable.  Kroger is facing an ongoing legal action in Washington State to be followed by a similar request for an injunction banning the proposed merger in Colorado filed by the Attorneys General of those states.