Interesting commentary on food shopping from Emily Esterson at New West Network. Albertson’s, one of just three “regular” grocery chains in Albuquerque, was sold yesterday to SuperValu (which I’d never even heard of).
Key quote from Esterson: “Wal-Mart was just as crowded and slow. The prices only marginally better on certain items, and the food, well, sort of franken-foodish in its cheerful coats of wax and cellophane.”
Second key quote: “Drive 30 miles to Whole Paycheck. Deal with the prices at Wild Oats (and make a second stop for toilet paper, paper towels and dog food?). We don’t have the income to spend $5 on organic carrots, or $9.99 for a pound of ranch-raised organic beef.”
I had to look into things. SuperValu is a parent corp owning lots of different grocery chains. The major one that caught my eye is that they own Cub Foods, which is a major local chain in the Chicago area. Its major competitor, for “regular” grocers there is Jewell/Osco which is owned by the some corp as is selling Albertsons.
This sale means a lot more to Chicago, than it does to ABQ. For antitrust reasons, SuperValu will sell off many of its Cub Foods stores to some other corp.
Isn’t there a food co-op in ABQ that I read about last year? Perhaps its time to check them out.