But the divested stores represent just seven percent of the chains' combined 2,400 stores, and in the words of Wenonah Hauter, executive director for Food and Water Watch, amount to "a paltry number of grocery stores in a handful of cities." The deal, therefore, allows the supermarkets to maintain their "stranglehold on consumers," said Hauter, almost certainly leading to higher prices and lower quality.
Furthermore, Hauter continued, "The FTC did not require the chains to divest a single store in twenty metropolitan areas where the merger combined local rivals. In these markets, the four largest retailers will sell two-thirds of all groceries, and 12 million consumers will face higher prices and reduced choices.
"The FT approved a divestiture plan that is simply inadequate to protect consumers," concluded Hauter. "It largely permits supermarkets to tighten their stranglehold on consumers at a time of rising grocery prices and stagnant wages."
A USDA study published in September found that nearly 50 million people in the U.S. struggled with food insecurity in 2013.
It is not immediately clear how the merger, which both companies say they want to complete withing five business days, will impact the tens of thousands of unionized workers at both chains.
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