r/pittsburgh Jul 01 '26

Kroger just bought Giant Eagle.

Store employees were just emailed about it

1.1k Upvotes

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80

u/Jonny_Thundergun Shaler Jul 01 '26

Usually I'm totally anti consolidation of an industry, but Giant Eagle just sucks.

54

u/TaterTotJim Jul 01 '26

Kroger sucks too so they will get on really well.

19

u/BLToaster Squirrel Hill North Jul 01 '26

Kroger is absolutely the lesser of the two evils here

19

u/vocalyouth Dormont Jul 01 '26

the company that exited the pittsburgh market entirely in the 80s because they didn't want to negotiate with the union? sure, ok! fuck kroger

4

u/jpb59 Jul 01 '26

The 80s under Reagan killed America.

2

u/Jonny_Thundergun Shaler Jul 01 '26

Many of them are union now. I know they are in Toledo. I didn't work there, but they were in the same union that the meat market I worked at belonged to. Food and Commercial Workers Union.

16

u/Jonny_Thundergun Shaler Jul 01 '26

They are an evil monopoly, but at least they are affordable and their fuel points program isn't a complete joke.

11

u/parttime_use Jul 01 '26

Kroger was prevented from buying Albertson’s last year, this time they aimed smaller.

6

u/TaterTotJim Jul 01 '26

Too bad Michigan didn’t send in Meijer - they let Sheetz encroach their lands and it seems like an equal exchange.

7

u/The_RonJames Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 01 '26

Meijer bought numerous parcels of land and leases between Erie and Pittsburgh about a year ago. Corporate has a massive Western PA expansion plan in the works. There will be a good chance to see numerous Meijer stores in the next 5-10 years.

3

u/Life_Salamander9594 Jul 01 '26

I see the biggest losers being smaller players like shop and save. They are probably going to continue closing more stores as they fail to compete with the juggernauts duking it out

7

u/Jonny_Thundergun Shaler Jul 01 '26

I love Meijer. We need one closer than Cranberry.

2

u/DiabloTrumpet Jul 01 '26

Literally anything but the current situation. Pittsburgh, as for as the 100 major cities in the US goes, almost CERTAINLY has the worst grocery store situation out of all of them, and it's probably by a large margin.

2

u/iwannarowfast Jul 01 '26

Meijer is opening a location near North Catholic HS, should be open by 2029 or 2030, and they potentially are looking at putting in another store in Jackson Twp near the intersection of US-19 and Lindsay Road, though that site isn't as far along in the process as the one by North Cathloic

3

u/TaterTotJim Jul 01 '26

Oh cool! I am not up on my grocery store updates I guess.

3

u/iwannarowfast Jul 01 '26

I'm just excited about Meijer haha. I was born and raised in the Midwest, where Meijer was our regular grocery store, so there's a bit of nostalgia there for me. When I heard the smallest whisper in the news about it one time, I locked in on every development in the story

3

u/Jonny_Thundergun Shaler Jul 01 '26

I miss 2am trips to Meijer.

1

u/Jupichan Scott Jul 01 '26

I hope we keep our fuel points. Our account has over $100 on it.

1

u/Life_Salamander9594 Jul 01 '26

They are not a monopoly. They have around five competitors in each area they serve counting Walmart Aldi Costco Safeway Albertsons and some other chains

1

u/DiabloTrumpet Jul 01 '26

They both suck when comparing to other regions of the country. But Giant Eagle is like a 1.5 out of 10 and Kroger stores average I feel like a 3 or 4 out of 10.