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Kitsap County warns of food deserts if Albertsons-Kroger merger proceeds

As multiple court cases play out over a proposed merger between grocery giants Kroger and Albertsons, Kitsap County officials worry a deal may have ramifications on the availability of healthy foods, particularly in South Kitsap.

The Kitsap County commissioners wrote in a resolution adopted this month that they are worried a merger and plan to divest four stores in Kitsap could lead to closures and worsen existing food deserts. The two national retailers plan to sell off 124 stores across Washington, including two in Gig Harbor, as part of a nearly $25 billion acquisition.

“These grocery stores are cornerstones of the Kitsap community, providing jobs and convenient access to nutritious and fresh foods,” county commissioners wrote in the resolution. “Ensuring a thriving local economy, food security and convenient shopping options for the community are priorities for Kitsap County.”

Multiple messages sent through a county spokesperson seeking comment from Commissioner Charlotte Garrido, who represents South Kitsap, were not returned. 

Divestment plan

Under a divestment plan, C&S Wholesale Grocers would acquire three stores in Port Orchard, the Safeway on Point Fosdick Drive and the Albertsons in Gig Harbor North.

The divestment strategy aims to allay regulators’ concerns about a monopoly. Kroger — which owns Fred Meyer and QFC — and Albertsons — which owns Safeway and Haggen — collectively operate about half the state’s supermarkets.

The transfer appears to give C&S, a supplier company that runs about two dozen stores, control over half of supermarkets in South Kitsap. Notable stores in the area include a Walmart, Grocery Outlet and four groceries owned by Kroger or Albertsons, according to a list from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service.

Kroger and Albertsons have rejected claims that the divestment would lead to store closures. The chains argue that the merger would allow the new company to remain viable against competitors like Walmart, Costco and Amazon.

“The divestiture plan ensures no stores will close as a result of the merger,” Kroger wrote in a statement last year.

Legal action

That has done little to sway state, federal or union officials. They argue the merger would eliminate competition and raise prices for shoppers, while casting doubt on C&S Grocers’ qualifications.

The Washington Attorney General’s Office — which is in court in Seattle for an antitrust suit seeking to block the merger — argues C&S does not have sufficient infrastructure to support the new stores. If approved, they would go from running 23 stores to over 100 in Washington alone, the office said.

Arguments in a separate case filed by the Federal Trade Commission wrapped up last week in federal court in Portland, USA Today reported. The FTC is seeking an injunction to halt the merger.

Tom Geiger of UFCW 3000, a union representing grocery workers across the Northwest, said in a statement the FTC trial has only raised concerns.

“The evidence that came out in the federal trial clarified what we already knew — this proposed mega-merger would harm workers and shoppers,” he said. “We cannot trust anything the CEOs of Kroger and Albertsons say unless it is legally binding.”

Food deserts

Concerns about supermarket access are not new to Kitsap. A report from the University of Washington documented food deserts in the county as far back as 2011. 

In a 2019 report, The Kitsap Public Health District and Washington State University found less than a quarter of residents live within a 2-mile buffer of a supermarket. They also found the county’s most economically disadvantaged residents live outside of areas where supermarkets are concentrated.

A spokesperson for the health district said they have not made any updates to that report since it was published, but noted they had data showing 11.2% of county residents experienced food insecurity in 2022.

Food insecurity rates in Kitsap declined annually between 2015 and 2021, before jumping three percent in 2022, the most recent year available. Yet they  remain either below or on par with where they were during the first four years of that sample.

The health district declined to comment on the proposed grocery merger, including whether they shared the county commissioners’ concerns about possible store closures.

Increased demand at food banks

Possible store closures in Kitsap come at a time when many are concerned about the increasing cost of living. For the last year, local food banks have been reporting growing demands for their services.

“Our numbers have vastly gone up within the last year,” said Morgan Huffman, development coordinator at Bremerton Foodline. “We’re talking 300-plus percent from last year to this year in the number of clients we’re seeing each month.”

Bremerton Foodline has already served more than 18,000 individuals this year. That surpassed the 11,200 residents it served in all of 2023. Many of those are first time customers, Huffman said.

The sunsetting of federal COVID-era safety nets caused some of that uptick in visits. March 2023 marked the end of expanded SNAP Benefits, commonly known as food stamps, relegating them to pre-pandemic levels.

The rising cost of living is also a  likely factor, Huffman said. Although inflation rates have leveled-off, prices for groceries, transportation and housing remain higher than they were pre-pandemic.

Pamela Leazer, executive director of the Gig Harbor Peninsula FISH Food Bank, said older adults living on fixed incomes appear to be particularly hard hit by those increases. Seniors continue to make up a majority of their visitors.

The food bank, which serves Pierce County and the southernmost portion of Kitsap, has seen about 800 visitors per month on average over the current fiscal  year. While some of those are repeat shoppers, those numbers represent an increase in people using the food bank, Leazer said.

“For us that’s significant because we have to keep our shelves filled for our clients,” she said. “Not only that, but what we don’t get from donations we supplement by purchasing so our costs go up.”