Kroger eyes Columbus for Giant Eagle divestitures: reports

Kroger has the No. 1 grocery market share in Columbus with about 43%.ChatGPT

Kroger is likely exploring the potential sale of some Giant Eagle stores in the Columbus Ohio, market, according to local reports.

Cincinnati-based Kroger said last week that it expected to divest a “limited” number of Giant Eagle locations to satisfy antitrust regulators in connection with its $1.65 billion acquisition of Pittsburgh-based Giant Eagle. The companies did not specify where those stores might be located, but the Columbus market appears to include the most overlap, including some locations where stores are on the same block.

Kroger has the No. 1 grocery market share in Columbus with about 43%, followed by Walmart with about 18.8%, Meijer with a little more than 8%, and then Giant Eagle at No. 4 with about 6.5%, according to reports. Several of those Giant Eagle locations are located in very close proximity to Kroger stores, Google Maps data shows.

The two retailers appear to have little, if any, overlap elsewhere. Giant Eagle is the No. 2 grocery retailer in Cleveland, where Kroger no longer operates, with a share of 20%, behind Walmart’s 22.2%, according to an Axios report from 2024. Giant Eagle, which operates about half of its stores in Pennsylvania, where Kroger also does not have any stores, has just a couple of locations each in Indiana, Maryland and West Virginia.

Giant Eagle has about 18 locations in the Columbus area, about half of which are its more upscale Market District formats, according to its website. Kroger, meanwhile, has about 40 locations in the market, according to an analysis by a local NBC TV affiliate.

Kroger could seek to sell as few as five Giant Eagle stores in the Columbus market or as many as nine, Burt P. Flickinger III, managing director at Strategic Resource Group, told Supermarket News. Potential interested buyers could include BJ’s Wholesale Club, Target and Meijer, he said.

BJ’s recently unveiled plans for a new distribution center in Columbus as it seeks to expand in the region.

Weighing in Kroger’s favor as it seeks to satisfy regulators’ antitrust concerns is the fact that the Federal Trade Commission forecasts market conditions two years ahead, when several other food retailers are expected to expand in the area, Flickinger said. In addition to BJ’s and Meijer, other retailers that are expanding their Ohio footprint include Aldi and Trader Joe’s, while both Publix Super Markets and Wegmans Food Markets have been adding stores closer and closer to Ohio.

“By summer 2028, market shares will be reshaped by these entrants, giving regulators a very different picture than today,” said Flickinger.

Meanwhile the National Grocers Association called on regulators to “conduct a robust review of this proposed acquisition.”

“Where store divestitures will be required, independent grocers should be prioritized as buyers to ensure local communities benefit from a diverse marketplace,” the NGA said. “With 69% of U.S. grocery sales controlled by just four national chains, strong antitrust enforcement is more important than ever to protect consumer choice, preserve competitive markets and maintain a level playing field for independent grocers, farmers, suppliers and the communities they serve.”

Flickinger agreed with other industry observers that the acquisition makes sense for Kroger, and he added that it could set the stage for expansion further north and east into upstate New York and into markets in the Mid-Atlantic and New England.

Kroger had already been poised to expand its presence in Central Ohio before it announced the acquisition. In April the retailer unveiled plans to invest about $112 million to build new stores and remodel others in its Columbus division, which includes stores in parts of Ohio, Michigan and West Virginia. These include two new Kroger Marketplace stores in the Columbus area that are scheduled to open this fall—a 123,000-square-foot store in Delaware on the northern outskirts of Columbus and a 118,00-square-foot store in Winchester to the south of the city.